In November 2019, Paul Erickson, a longtime conservative activist and strategist who had worked for a number of GOP politicians, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in July 2020 and ordered to pay about $3 million in restitution.
President Donald Trump pardoned Erickson in January 2021 — for his conviction related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 Presidential Election.
But Erickson had not been convicted in the Russian investigation nor had he been convicted of any charges related to the Russian investigation.
“Mr. Erickson’s conviction was based off the Russian collusion hoax,” the White House said in a statement. “After finding no grounds to charge him with any crimes with respect to connections with Russia, he was charged with a minor financial crime.. . . This pardon helps right the wrongs of what has been revealed to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American History.”
Trump “renewed his grievance over the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election by pardoning Paul Erickson,” the Associated Press reported, “even though he had pleaded guilty to fraudulent investment schemes that had nothing to do with Russia.”
Trump could not pardon Erickson for crimes related to the Mueller investigation because he wasn’t charged with any crimes by the special counsel.
Erickson’s crimes were unrelated to the Russian investigation. And his crimes were not “minor financial crimes.”
Karen Schreier, the judge who sentenced Erickson, had these words for the man who pleaded guilty to scamming dozens of people – including classmates and family members — out of more than $5 million.
Judge Schreier listed former classmates, family members and even Erickson’s godmother, as victims of his investment schemes.
“What comes through is that you’re a thief, and you’ve betrayed your friends, your family, pretty much everyone you know,” Judge Schreier said.
https://apnews.com/general-news-f4d3efb3857208230193f2dd710fc6ab
By pardoning Erickson, this, according to legal experts, meant that Erickson would no longer have to pay his victims the $3 million he defrauded from them.
Well played, Donald Trump.
Take that, Robert Mueller.
The Associated Press reported that Erickson worked as a national political director for Pat Buchanan when Buchanan challenged President George H. W. Bush in the 1992 Republican primary. Erickson then went from working for right-wing adviser Pat Buchanan to becoming a media adviser to John Wayne Bobbitt, whose wife cut off his penis with a kitchen knife in 1993. Erickson then worked for Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist who was later imprisoned after being implicated in a corruption scandal.
https://apnews.com/general-news-f4d3efb3857208230193f2dd710fc6ab
https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/September/08-crm-779.html
Erickson’s work with John Wayne Bobbitt prepared him best for the sideshow that was the Trump administration and the National Rifle Association.
Erickson emailed the Trump presidential campaign and offered to connect it with the Russian government through a Russian intermediary, his girlfriend Maria Butina.
SEE MARIA BUTINA
The Associated Press reported that Butina tried to connect Moscow with the U.S. conservative establishment, including the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast.
The FBI arrested Butina in July 2018 and charged her with conspiring as an unregistered agent of the Russian government.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/16/629531772/feds-charge-russian-student-linked-to-nra-with-conspiracy
She admitted she had engaged in a conspiracy against the United States with Erickson and another Russian living in the United States. She was sentenced the next year to 18 months in prison.
Butina implicated Erickson, who the FBI investigated.
https://www.npr.org/2018/07/16/629531772/feds-charge-russian-student-linked-to-nra-with-conspiracy
The Associated Press reported that Erickson was not charged for his involvement with Butina or the Russian investigation but was, instead, charged with wire fraud and money laundering.
Butina was deported after serving her prison sentence.
