President Trump pardoned an ex-Virginia sheriff who was convicted of taking bribes in exchange for badges.
Trump issued the shock pardon just one day before Scott Jenkins, the 53-year-old former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, was due to report to prison.
Jenkins was accused of appointing businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in exchange for money. But in a social media post, Trump decried Jenkins' prosecution as an example of politically motivated "weaponization" of justice.
"In fact, during his trial, when Sheriff Jenkins tried to offer exculpatory evidence to support himself, the Biden Judge, Robert Ballou, refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade," Trump wrote. "As we have seen, in Federal, City, and State Courts, Radical Left or Liberal Judges allow into evidence what they feel like, not what is mandated under the Constitution and Rules of Evidence."
Prosecutors said Jenkins accepted a combination of cash and campaign contributions, totaling over $60,000, from wealthy clients who were seeking to exercise special privileges, like get out of traffic tickets and carry concealed firearms without a permit. Two undercover FBI agents also paid Jenkins $15,000.
One co-defendant, Rick Rahim, testified that he paid Jenkins, and also gave him a loan that was never repaid, in exchange for a badge and the restoration of his gun rights.
At his trial, Jenkins testified that the payments were simply campaign donations, and he denied there was any connection between the payments and the badges.
His lawyer similarly denied there was any quid pro quo, claiming Jenkins deputized untrained civilians as a "creative" way to circumvent gun control laws in Virginia.
A jury in December convicted Jenkins of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
The former sheriff was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March, and was set to begin his prison stay on Tuesday before Trump intervened at the 11th hour.
"This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail," he added.
"He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and ‘left for dead.’ This is why I, as President of the United States, see fit to end his unfair sentence, and grant Sheriff Jenkins a FULL and Unconditional Pardon."
Jenkins was first elected in 2011 and won re-election twice before losing his office in the wake of the indictment.
