Trump's pardon of Dinesh D'Souza an ‘act of justice,’ says Judge Napolitano
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano discusses why President Trump was right to pardon Dinesh D’ Souza.
President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Dinesh D'Souza was to correct an injustice, according to Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano.
“If you look at the record objectively, this is simply not a crime for which people are prosecuted,” the judge said during an interview on FOX Business’ “The Evening Edit.”
The conservative political commentator and filmmaker pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign laws in 2014. D'Souza used straw donors to contribute to New York Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long in 2012.
“He was wrong when he did it, I am sure that he knew it was wrong and he pleaded guilty to it,” Napolitano said.
D’Souza’s contribution to Long’s senatorial campaign totaled $20,000. Napolitano points out that in cases with larger amounts of contribution well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the government has required the person to simply pay back the initial contribution amount and pay a fine.
“It’s handled civilly, it’s handled through administrative law courts. It’s not handled criminally,” he said.
Napolitano said the Obama administration unfairly targeted his friend of 40 years.
“This was a political prosecution,” he said. “And what [Trump] did was not an act of mercy. What the president did was an act of justice.”
In an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” D’Souza said the Obama administration and its Justice Department under former Attorney General Eric Holder decided to make an example out of him due to Obama’s anger over his movie, “2016: Obama's America.”
“This was a vindictive political hit that was kind of aimed at putting me out of business, essentially destroying my credibility, making it impossible for me to make movies, write books,” he said.
Since Obama and his team didn’t prosecute anyone else who used illegal campaign contributions in larger amounts, Napolitano said, it’s further proof that D’Souza was targeted.
“Dinesh D’Souza is a brilliant political philosopher and writer,” he said. “And he really, really, really caught into the skin of the president and Eric Holder.”