WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump pardoned rapper NBA YoungBoy as part of a spree of reprieves this week, including one for a couple known on reality television and a commuted federal sentence for a former Chicago gang leader convicted of murder.
A White House official confirmed the May 28 pardon of Louisiana-based NBA YoungBoy, 25, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden.
He was serving a 23-month sentence for federal gun charges as part of a plea deal reached with federal prosecutors in December. The previous month, Gaulden pleaded guilty to his involvement in a Utah pharmacy drug ring, but he avoided incarceration and paid a $25,000 fine.
“I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and for giving me the opportunity to keep building ‒ as a man, as a father, and as an artist,” Gaulden, whose rap name stands for “Never Broke Again,” wrote on his Instagram account. “This moment means a lot.”
He added that the pardon “opens the door to a future I’ve worked hard for and I’m fully prepared to step into this.”
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The pardon means Gaulden will no longer have travel restrictions, allowing him to embark on a 32-date national tour set to kick off in September that he’s dubbed the “MASA tour” ‒ “Make America Slime Again.” It’s a riff on Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Slime refers to a close friend or homie in hip-hop lingo.
Trump has issued a slew of pardons that coincided with the first full week of Ed Martin serving as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney. Trump had previously nominated Martin to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, but he withdrew in the face of Republican opposition on Capitol Hill over Martin’s support for Jan. 6 rioters.
Pardons fully wipe out a recipient’s guilt of a criminal act and any penalties tied to a conviction. Typically, a wave of pardons comes at the end of a president’s term. But Trump has smashed all norms, beginning with his day one pardons of more than 1,600 individuals charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump on May 27 pardoned Todd and Julie Chrisley of the USA Network television show “Chrisley Knows Best” fame, in which they portrayed themselves as real estate tycoons in the South. The couple was found guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks in Atlanta out of more than $36 million in fraudulent loans.
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The next day, Trump commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, 74, a notorious former Chicago gang leader who co-founded the Gangster Disciples and was convicted in 1973 for the murder of a drug dealer. Hoover, who was serving six life terms for his federal charges, still must serve a 200-year sentence for his Illinois state charges.
Trump also pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who resigned from his office after pleading guilty in late 2004 to one count of conspiring to commit tax fraud and depriving the public of honest service over $107,000 in gifts he accepted from companies doing business with the state.
Rowland, a former New York congressman, was later convicted of obstructing justice, conspiracy, falsifying government documents, and other violations of campaign finance laws. He was sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
More: Donald Trump pardons former Republican Rep. Michael Grimm for tax fraud conviction
Trump pardoned former New York Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican congressman from 2011 to 2015, who resigned after being convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to eight months in prison.
And as first reported by USA TODAY, Trump also pardoned former 1st Lt. Mark Bashaw, a former U.S. Army officer who was found guilty by a special court martial during the Biden administration for refusing to follow COVID-19 safety measures.
The White House has not provided a full list of Trump’s pardons, deferring to the Department of Justice, which updates clemency actions on its website.
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman and Zac Anderson
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
