With Donald Trump in the White House, one of the most important times of the week is Friday night. That’s when the president and his team have an unnerving habit of announcing news they hope the public won’t notice.
Take this past Friday night, for example. The New York Times reported:
President Trump has pardoned Stephen E. Buyer, a former Republican representative from Indiana who was convicted of insider trading in 2023.
The pardon for Mr. Buyer was endorsed by current and former Republican lawmakers, including Senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and former House Speaker John Boehner, according to the proclamation, which was dated June 4.
Buyer’s congressional career came to an unfortunate end in 2010, when the Indiana Republican faced allegations that he used a scholarship fund as a front to travel to pricey vacation locales to hobnob with donors. In fact, the fund reportedly never awarded a single scholarship.
Almost immediately after the controversy came to light, Buyer announced his retirement, although he said his decision was related to his wife’s health.
After leaving Capitol Hill and beginning a private consulting career, Buyer’s troubles managed to get worse, and in 2023 he was sentenced to 22 months in prison stemming from four counts of securities fraud related to a pair of insider trading schemes in 2018 and 2019.
Trump pardoned him anyway, which wasn’t exactly surprising, given his track record: The incumbent president appears to have a real soft spot for politicians accused of — and in some cases, convicted of — assorted felonies.
In the president’s first term, for example, he pardoned seven former Republican members of Congress, each of whom had been convicted on corruption charges: New York’s Chris Collins, California’s Duncan Hunter, Texas’ Steve Stockman, Arizona’s Rick Renzi, North Carolina’s Robin Hayes, Michigan’s Mark Siljander and California’s Randall “Duke” Cunningham.