https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlrZUYfTidI
May 29, 2025
Donald Trump has turned the presidential pardon into a corrupt loyalty program—rewarding felons, donors, and reality stars who stay loyal and pay up. Gabe Sanchez reports on a new ‘What Was That?’ Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at https://shopify.com/gabe Get the latest at https://whatwasthat.show! Listen to What Was That? with Gabe Sanchez: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Visit https://meidasplus.com for more!
Transcript
donald Trump isn't just abusing the
power of the presidency he's monetizing
it what used to be a constitutional
safeguard the presidential pardon is now
a cashback rewards program for the
corrupt and under Trump it's only
getting worse i alone can fix it yeah he
can fix it if you write a big enough
check trump's pardon power isn't just
being abused it's basically being
auctioned off this week Trump pardoned
Scott Jenkins a former Virginia sheriff
convicted of bribery and public
corruption according to federal
prosecutors Jenkins accepted over
$75,000 in cash and campaign donations
in exchange for making unqualified
donors auxiliary deputies basically
handing out law enforcement roles to
people who paid him off like it was a
magathine build a badge workshop
president used his pen to wipe away the
conviction of Scott Jenkins a former
Virginia local sheriff a jury convicted
Jenkins of accepting more than
$75,000 in bribes for handing out
no-show jobs the evidence included video
of Jenkins taking bags of cash and
firsthand accounts from co-conspirators
turned witnesses for the prosecution and
Trump's justification not that Jenkins
was innocent not that he was framed just
that Biden's DOJ was too mean here's
what Trump posted on True Social sheriff
Scott Jenkins his wife Patricia and
their family have been dragged through
hell by a corrupt and weaponized Biden
DOJ maybe don't collect $75,000 in
bribes but hey that's just me the
sheriff is a victim of an overzealous
Biden Department of Justice and doesn't
deserve to spend a single day in jail he
is a wonderful person who was prosecuted
by the radical left monsters and left
for dead that 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
he will not be going to jail tomorrow
but instead will have a wonderful and
productive life this is Trump's go-to
move not this person didn't do it just
that they're nice and being persecuted
it's the same playbook that Trump has
used since day one turn the justice
system into a personal protection racket
if you're loyal you're good if you're
not jail but it didn't stop there trump
also pardoned Todd and Julie Chrysley
stars of Chrysly Knows Best who were
sentenced in 2022 for defrauding banks
of more than $30 million through
falsified documents and loans reality TV
stars Todd and Julie Chrysley will serve
lengthy prison terms for their fraud
convictions a federal judge in Atlanta
sentenced Todd Chrysley to 12 years in
prison yesterday while his wife Julie
got 7 years behind bars the judge
sentenced their accountant to three
years in prison the couple known for
their show Chrisley Knows Best were
found guilty earlier this year of
defrauding banks and the IRS out of
millions of dollars all to fund a lavish
lifestyle nothing screams Law and Order
like wiping the slate clean for reality
TV grifters it's almost like Trump only
associates himself with criminals and
con artists weird trump personally
called Savannah Chrysley Todd and
Julie's daughter to deliver the news
from the Oval Office your parents are
going to be free and clean and I hope we
can do it by tomorrow said "Okay we'll
try getting it done at tomorrow." So
wonderful give them I don't know them
but give them my regards and wish them
wish them a good life brother
Mr president yes how are you i just want
to say thank you for bringing my parents
back yeah well they were given a pretty
harsh treatment based on what I'm
hearing pretty harsh treatment and
Margot Martin the special assistant to
the president and communications adviser
posted it online with the caption "Trump
knows best." Yep that's right the
current president of the United States
used the full weight of the executive
branch to rewrite the fate of a reality
TV family and while the Chryslies were
celebrating another Trump pardon quietly
slid through the headlines this one for
Paul Walzac a former nursing home
executive convicted of tax fraud walzac
had stolen millions in employee tax
withholdings to bankroll his luxury
lifestyle he was sentenced to 18 months
in prison in order to pay $4.4 million
in restitution but just 12 days after
sentencing Trump signed a pardon now why
would Trump do that well that's because
Paul's mom Elizabeth FGO is a mega donor
who's raised millions for Trump in the
GOP and just weeks earlier attended a $1
million per plate fundraiser at Mara
Lago so if you're keeping score at home
that's three pardons a sheriff who sold
badges for bribes reality stars who
defrauded banks and a tax cheat whose
mom helped fund Trump's campaign this
isn't subtle this is corruption with the
lights on and this is just since
returning to office let's not forget the
Hall of Fame from Trump's first term
Michael Flynn Trump's former national
security adviser who pleaded guilty to
lying to the FBI about his contacts with
Russia trump called him a hero and
erased it all roger Stone convicted of
witness tampering obstruction and lying
to Congress trump commuted his sense
days before he was supposed to report to
prison steve Bannon indicted for
defrauding Trump supporters through the
We Build the Wall fundraising scheme
trump pardoned him anyway joe Arpaio the
racist Arizona sheriff who defied a
court order to stop racial profiling and
kept running a literal tent city prison
in the desert heat convicted and
pardoned desh Duza Charles Kushner
Scooter Libby Conrad Black it's a whole
ecosystem of crooks donors and cronies
but what do they all have in common well
they're either Trump loyalist MAGA
influencers or people with enough cash
to get in the room because for Trump
justice is for sale and the Republican
party they're totally fine with it
senate Republicans won't hold hearings
house Republicans won't pass
accountability bills and no one in the
GOP will even say the word corruption
unless it's about Hunter Biden's laptop
what makes this dangerous isn't just the
pardons it's the message behind them
trump is telling every grifter scammer
and insider "Do what you want as long as
you're loyal to me." That's not law and
order that's authoritarianism and it's
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shopify.com/gabe we've already seen how
Trump used pardons to interfere in the
Mueller investigation we've seen how he
floated pardons to January 6th
defendants and now with no legal
constraints and a Congress too scared to
challenge him there's no telling how far
it'll go this isn't just corruption it's
state sponsored grifting trump's second
term will be filled with convicted
insurrectionists getting a hero's
welcome billionaires getting retroactive
immunity for tax crimes and political
donors writing off their federal
sentences like business expenses and
remember Trump loves projecting so every
time he accuses someone else of
weaponizing the government he's actually
telegraphing exactly what he's about to
do and Republicans the party of law and
order are completely silent and it's not
just fraud it's the same pattern with
nearly every type of crime trump's
Justice Department is prosecuting a
Democratic congresswoman for this
encounter claiming she assaulted a
police officer but Trump pardoned nearly
170 people who plead guilty to or were
convicted of assaulting police officers
on January 6th trump claims to back
American law enforcement but just last
month he pardoned a MAGA politician who
was convicted after she took money that
was raised to honor a slain police
officer and literally used it to pay for
plastic surgery and for her daughter's
wedding you can't make up how gross it
is sometimes trump also used the threat
of international drug trafficking to
justify everything from his draconian
immigration policies to his disastrous
tariffs
but that didn't stop Trump from
pardoning a notorious online drug
trafficker who the FBI says is
responsible for the overdose deaths of
at least six people all because that
notorious online drug trafficker had
become a cause celeb in parts of the
conservative movement that's why because
in Trump's world being convicted doesn't
mean you did something wrong it means
you weren't friends with a president and
nothing says law and order like a felon
gifting pardons to other felons for
their loyalty trump turned pardons into
a loyalty test a status symbol a
pay-to-play scheme and now that he's
back in office the floodgates are open
look of all the powers Trump has the
pardon power in my view has always had
one of the greatest potentials for abuse
trump is using pardon power in a way
that no one else has really done before
him rewarding his friends legitimizing
conduct he himself wants to engage in
and likely ignoring many of the people
who may legitimately need a presidential
pardon commutation it's pretty clear
that Trump intends to keep expanding his
use of the pardon power i mean earlier
this month he chose Ed Martin as his
official pardon attorney you remember
this guy i'm sure we've talked about him
a lot he's a former advocate for January
6th defendants he was actually in
Washington on January 6 tweeting from
the protests trump then decided to try
and make Ed Martin the US attorney for
Washington DC where Ed Martin
immediately started threatening
Democratic lawmakers with baseless
investigations
eventually Trump had to take him out of
that job after Martin's ties to a
notorious right-wing Hitler impersonator
came to light but Trump didn't get rid
of Ed Martin entirely he just moved him
over to the pardon office where he could
continue to help Trump abuse his power
congratulations Ed you're no longer in
charge of punishing our enemies your new
job is to reward all of our friends the
pardon power was meant to be a check
against unjust punishment but Trump has
turned it into a reward for loyalty and
a punishment for disscent and get this
Trump says that he would take a look at
possibly pardoning the men accused of
conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor
Gretchen Whitmer i'm going to look at it
i will take a look at it uh it's been
brought to my attention i did watch the
trial it looked to me like somewhat of a
railroad job i'll be honest with you it
looked to me like some people said some
stupid things you know they were
drinking and I think they said stupid
things but I'll take a look at that and
uh a lot of people are asking me that
question from both sides actually a lot
of people think uh they got railroaded a
lot of people think they got railroaded
and probably some people don't know one
more he's not draining the swamp he's
running the concession stand from
sheriffs to fraudsters to reality TV
stars Trump is turning the Oval Office
into a courtroom vending machine and the
only people who can stop it are the ones
standing silently by pretending it's all
normal what was that exists because of
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