President Trump issued a full pardon on Monday to a former Virginia sheriff who had been convicted of bribery, alleging that he was a victim of a “weaponized” Justice Department under the Biden administration.
Trump announced his pardon of Scott Jenkins, who was convicted in December of accepting more than $70,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing local businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in the office, in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ,” Trump said in the post.
Jenkins, who served as the sheriff of Culpeper County in northern Virginia for more than a decade until he lost his reelection bid in 2023, was convicted on one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services mail and wire fraud and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving public funds.
Prosecutors alleged that Jenkins accepted cash bribes and bribes in the form of campaign contributions from various individuals, including two who were undercover FBI agents. He offered them badges and credentials despite not being trained or vetted and not offering any services to the sheriff’s office, they argued.
Jenkins was also accused of pressuring local officials to restore one of the individuals’ right to own a firearm despite their status as a convicted felon.
Three of the men, including the previously convicted felon, already pleaded guilty for their roles in the bribery scheme before Jenkins was found guilty.
Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison in March.
“Scott Jenkins violated his oath of office and the faith the citizens of Culpeper County placed in him when he engaged in a cash-for-badges scheme,” Acting United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee said in a release after the sentencing. “We hold our elected law enforcement officials to a higher standard of conduct and this case proves that when those officials use their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the Department of Justice will hold them accountable.”
But Trump argued that Jenkins was treated unfairly, alleging that the judge in the case, whom former President Biden appointed, refused to accept evidence that Jenkins offered to exonerate himself.
“This Sheriff is a victim of an overzealous Biden Department of Justice, and doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail,” he said. “He is a wonderful person, who was persecuted by the Radical Left ‘monsters,’ and ‘left for dead.’”
Trump’s pardon also came after a personal plea for clemency from Jenkins, who reportedly said last month during a webinar that he didn’t have the money to appeal the verdict and believed Trump would help if he knew the facts of the case and his side that he wasn’t able to share in front of the jury.
Trump has regularly argued without evidence that he and other conservatives have been the target of a politicized Justice Department during the Biden administration.
He has issued a wide range of pardons for controversial figures since returning to office, including most of those convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and Michele Fiore, a conservative commentator and former Las Vegas City Council member who was convicted on wire fraud.
The Justice Department under Trump has also launched investigations into several public officials, leading to accusations from Democrats that the president is targeting political opponents.
