Trump pardoned – With a pardon of former Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer, President Donald Trump has now granted clemency to at least 11 former GOP politicians, nearly all tied to corruption charges or alleged violations of public trust—continuing a pattern that includes insider-trad
By the time former Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer’s pardon hit, it wasn’t just another legal reversal. It was another name added to a widening list of Republican politicians who now walk free after convictions tied to corruption, insider trading, or the misuse of public trust.
Buyer served in Congress from 1993 to 2011. After leaving office, he went to work as a consultant and lobbyist for companies that previously lobbied him. The case that sent him to prison hinged on how those relationships translated into stock trades.
In 2018. Buyer was golfing with an executive from T-Mobile when he learned the company was reviving its bid to take over Sprint—something not yet public. He began buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Sprint stock. In 2019. he learned of another impending merger through his work and bought shares of Navigant. a move that later earned him several hundred thousand dollars.
In 2022, Buyer was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to 22 months in prison, which he served. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal. In May. Trump posted letters written by Buyer’s former GOP colleagues. alleging that Buyer—who had made $354. 000 from his two insider trading schemes—was the victim of the “deep state.”.
Those lawmakers insisted in the letters that “Like you, Mr. President. Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration.” They offered support rather than new legal arguments. and Trump’s official pardon of Buyer did not list any specific reasons or rationale beyond that backing.
The pardon also landed in a political climate that has kept insider-trading restrictions in the spotlight for years. Congress has long debated provisions aimed at restricting stock trading by sitting lawmakers. The existing baseline is broad: current laws ban insider trading for everyone, not just members of Congress. But the definition doesn’t cover members of Congress buying and selling stocks that could be affected by legislation they vote on.
One proposed reform would ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks. while the most recent version advanced by the Republican majority would allow current members to keep holding the individual stocks they already own. Federal employees are barred from owning stocks that might be affected by their work, but the president is exempted. Trump does disclose his financial transactions—and earlier this spring. revealed he had made more than 3. 600 stock trades that year. including numerous stocks directly impacted by decisions he made as president.
Buyer’s clemency is part of a larger pattern of Trump pardons and commutations for politicians tied to financial wrongdoing or corruption. In all, Trump has given clemency to 13 former members of Congress. Nearly all of them were either charged with or convicted of financial wrongdoing or corruption.
The list includes George Santos, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft. It includes Michael Grimm. the Republican from Long Island. who pleaded guilty to tax fraud but also acknowledged wire fraud. hiring undocumented immigrants. and perjury. It includes Rick Renzi. the Arizona Republican. convicted on 17 charges that included threatening to use his legislative power to stop a land deal unless he was paid by an investor. It includes Duke Cunningham. a California Republican. who pleaded guilty to tax evasion. conspiracy to commit bribery. wire fraud. and mail fraud. It includes Duncan Hunter. a California Republican. who pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. including financing activities related to extramarital affairs.
Among the 13 former members of Congress Trump has pardoned or commuted, two were Democrats. One was current Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, facing felony charges for money laundering and bribery. The other was Rod Blagojevich. the former member of Congress and Illinois governor who famously tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. Blagojevich appeared on The Apprentice with Trump and supported Trump’s 2020 and 2024 political campaigns.
Trump has suggested Cuellar was indicted because. although he is a Democrat. he did not support Joe Biden’s border policies. But helping Cuellar avoid prosecution did not turn into loyalty that satisfied Trump. Cuellar said that despite being a conservative Democrat. he wasn’t about to become a Republican—and Trump responded with an angry. threatening Truth Social post: “Such a lack of LOYALTY. something that Texas Voters. and Henry’s daughters. will not like. Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”.
The choice to pardon Buyer also echoed a prior decision that has become a key part of Trump’s clemency story. In December 2020, after losing re-election to Joe Biden, Trump pardoned former New York GOP Rep. Chris Collins. Collins had pleaded guilty to insider trading charges just weeks earlier. Collins admitted that. while attending a party at the White House in 2017. he received a phone call from the board of directors of a health care company warning that one of its products had failed an important regulatory test. Collins promptly sold his shares. avoiding nearly half a million in losses that would have followed if he had waited until the news went public.
With Buyer now added to the expanding list. the questions that once surrounded insider trading and stock trading restrictions have returned in a sharper form: not whether such crimes exist. but what happens when powerful political figures labeled by courts and prosecutors as having abused trust are met with clemency instead of consequences.
Steve Buyer pardon insider trading Trump clemency Indiana politics Congress stock trading Henry Cuellar pardon Rod Blagojevich pardon Chris Collins pardon George Santos wire fraud Michael Grimm tax fraud Rick Renzi conviction Duke Cunningham bribery plea Duncan Hunter campaign funds