Dinesh D'Souza celebrates presidential pardon, claims Obama 'gangsterized' American politics

Dinesh D'Souza wasted no time in sharing the good news that he would receive a full pardon from President Trump, calling into Laura Ingraham's radio show just minutes after Trump announced the pardon on Twitter.

D'Souza told The Laura Ingraham Show that he was "very relieved" to have his record clean, after he was convicted of campaign finance law violations in 2014. He said the pardon fully restored his faith in America.

He also said that his pardon was great revenge against Preet Bharara, the former U.S. District Attorney whose office prosecuted D'Souza. "File this in the karma's a b--ch department," said D'Souza.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

D'Souza, who often made unfounded claims about former President Obama's supposed personal vendetta against the conservative pundit, has continually painted himself as a martyr who was a victim of "selective prosecution" by the Obama administration. He repeated as much to Ingraham, telling her that "Obama and Hillary [Clinton] have gangsterized U.S. politics." Former President Jimmy Carter "would never dream of locking me up," like Obama allowed, D'Souza contended.

Ingraham agreed, and congratulated D'Souza on his newly expunged record, while other conservative figures took to social media to lavish praise on the provocateur.