Trump pardons notorious drug trafficker--wait, what? [View all]

Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned the creator of Silk Road, a dark-web marketplace where people sold heroin, cocaine, LSD, and other illicit drugs by using cryptocurrency to keep the transactions anonymous and avoid being caught by law enforcement.

Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison for creating the website, in which he made millions of dollars profiting off of illegal drug sales as well as the sale of illegal services, such as computer hacking and forged documents, like passports and Social Security cards.

“Make no mistake, Ulbricht was a drug dealer and criminal profiteer who exploited people’s addictions and contributed to the deaths of at least six young people,” Preet Bharara, the now-former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York whose office prosecuted Ulbricht in 2015, said in a statement at the time.

But Trump has now pardoned Ulbricht and set him free, marking the second time in as many days that Trump let criminals back onto the street. On Tuesday, he pardoned roughly 1,500 Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists, many of whom violently assaulted law enforcement officers.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/22/2298433/-Trump-pardons-major-drug-dealer-after-vowing-to-execute-drug-dealers