Trump pardons former congressman Stephen Buyer convicted of insider trading

Summary

Stephen Buyer spent 22 months in federal prison for insider trading before Donald Trump signed his pardon, erasing the conviction of a former Republican congressman from Indiana who had spent years insisting he did nothing wrong. Buyer was found guilty of trading stocks on nonpublic information he obtained while serving in Congress, a fact pattern that made his case a clean example of the kind of corruption that federal prosecutors and ethics watchdogs typically hold up as textbook abuse of public office. Trump has now wielded his pardon power expansively since returning to the White House, and Buyer's case sits alongside a string of clemency grants for individuals whose legal troubles intersect with Republican politics. What gives the Buyer pardon particular friction is its timing: the administration has made loud public commitments to cracking down on financial fraud, particularly in Democratic-run cities and states. The tension between that rhetoric and the decision to wipe the record of a Republican ex-congressman convicted of financial crimes is the detail ethics advocates are pointing to. Buyer has never acknowledged guilt.