President Donald Trump’s abuse of the pardon power has been consistently corrupt, of course, but it also has been expensive: While the president made headlines last week by proposing to hijack around $1.8 billion from the Treasury to hand out to his political supporters, he already had come close to equalling that sum by means of the pardon power, depriving federal coffers—and crime victims—of some $1.5 billion in fines, restitution, and other obligations owed by—let’s remember this part—criminals.

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","freeContentEncoded","textContent","published","strategy","curl-ready","locked","deletedAt","isSyncedFromOwnBlog","original","duplicatesCount",0,"duplicateVersion","originalArticleId","errorsCount","appearance","color","backgroundColor","shortSummary","President Trump's pardons have cost the government about $1.5 billion in fines and restitution, money that would have gone to federal coffers and crime victims.","summary","President Donald Trump's use of the pardon power has been both corrupt and costly. Through pardons, he has deprived federal coffers and crime victims of approximately $1.5 billion in fines, restitution, and other obligations owed by criminals. This cost is comparable to his recent proposal to divert $1.8 billion from the Treasury for political supporters.","bullets",[375,376,377],"persons",[374],"places",[],"words",132,"sentiment",-3,"subject","meta",{"_336":337,"_338":339,"_340":341},"eventId","17a9dc587178a675468351219bc945310c2fc1ec2f70d0a9041f9bb223a7561c","nostrRootEvent","event",{"_24":271,"_300":324,"_146":97,"_198":325,"_304":305,"_232":326,"_307":327},"authorNPub","markdown","President Donald Trump’s abuse of the pardon power has been consistently corrupt, of course, but it also has been expensive: While the president made headlines last week by proposing to hijack around $1.8 billion from the Treasury to hand out to his political supporters, he already had come close to equalling that sum by means of the pardon power, [depriving](https://www.cato.org/blog/embarrassment-riches) federal coffers—and crime victims—of some $1.5 billion in fines, restitution, and other obligations owed by—let’s remember this part—_criminals_.\n\nYou’re reading **Wanderland**, Kevin D. Williamson’s weekly newsletter on politics, policy, and culture. To unlock the full version, [become a Dispatch member today](https://thedispatch.com/join/).","freeMarkdown","kind1EventId","kind30023EventId","26859fee109426838025ace3ef7c4ec33d8956d80cce91ce31c8e58201194d89","kind30023",{"_24":281,"_300":301,"_146":302,"_198":303,"_304":305,"_232":306,"_307":308},"publishedToNostr","htmlContentKind30023","

You’re reading Wanderland, Kevin D. Williamson’s weekly newsletter on politics, policy, and culture. To unlock the full version, become a Dispatch member today.

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