Trump Blasts ‘Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ’ While Pardoning Sheriff Convicted in Bribery Scheme
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump announced an unconditional pardon to a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced last year to years in federal prison on corruption charges.
Former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins was recently sentenced to a decade in federal prison after he was convicted last year of multiple charges related to accepting bribes in exchange for deputy appointments.
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Jenkins accepted tens of thousands of dollars in cash and campaign contributions in exchange for illegally appointing unqualified donors as auxiliary deputies.
In a statement from his Truth Social account on Monday, Trump accused the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden of being “Corrupt and Weaponized,” and said Jenkins would not see a jail cell:
Trump wrote:
Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ. 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. 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.
This 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 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. He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia said Jenkins “sold public office for personal gain and put unqualified individuals into positions of power.”
Throuighout the scheme, the former sheriff collected $75,000 in bribes.
