Conservative activist Dinesh D’Souza thanked President Donald Trump for pardoning him of campaign finance violations.
“I am thrilled and relieved and elated and as an immigrant in America. My American dream has been under something of a cloud, so I’m very relieved to have that cloud lifted,” D’Souza told Fox News, adding, “President Trump told me he felt I had been treated very unfairly and he felt that I was an important voice for America.”
The activist said he spoke to Trump for approximately 10 minutes Thursday saying the President “wanted to clean my record and adhere to continue doing what I’m doing.”
Trump announced his pardon for D’Souza on Twitter Thursday in a shock announcement.
Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
D’Souza plead guilty in 2014 for making illegal campaign donations to Republican candidate Wendy Long. D’Souza allegedly arranged donations to Long via friends and acquaintances in the form of straw donations.
D’Souza has long maintained that he was unfairly targeted by the Obama administration for his political activism against the former president. He was sentenced to eight months living under supervision in California and a $30,000 fine.