In late December 2020, President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of former Republican Congressman Steve Stockman of Texas who was two years into a 10-year sentence after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy to swindle conservative foundations out of at least $775,000.
The funds were meant for charitable purposes and voter education, CBS News reported.
According to financial records, Stockman secretly diverted the money to pay for personal expenses and to channel contributions to his campaign under the appearance that they were from other people.
One conservative operative, Benjamin Wetmore, testified at trial that Stockman hired people to spy on other GOP state lawmakers, including one in particular, would challenge him in the primary. Wetmore told jurors Stockman expressed concern that a Black lawmaker, Rep. James White of Woodville, might oppose him in the primary.
“Republicans love black conservatives,” Stockman texted Wetmore.
(This is an actual text.)
Ken Herman, a columnist the Austin American-Statesman, chronicled the details relating to Stockman’s crimes and then quoted FBI Special Agent Matthew DeSarno, who said the following about Stockman on the day he was sentenced:
“Former Congressman Stockman was entrusted by his constituents to serve in their best interest. Instead, Stockman used his position in a series of schemes for personal gain at the expense of the public. Today’s sentence should send a clear message that the laws of the land apply to everyone, regardless of position or power. . . . Public officials who abuse their position will be investigated, prosecuted and subjected to the full punishment of the law for their actions.”
Herman said that DeSarno’s words were overruled by a president who rejected the “quaint old notion that ‘the laws of the land apply to everyone, regardless of position or power.’” https://eu.statesman.com/story/news/columns/2020/12/23/trumps-commutation-stockman-corruption-sentence-seems-premature/4024909001/
