He is a tax evader and a showy New York businessman who cheated on his wife and Donald Trump gave her a last-minute pardon.
On Wednesday morning, Trump issued a full pardon to Al Pirro Jr., the ex-husband of one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in the media, Jeanine Pirro, presenter of the “Justice with Judge Jeanine” program of Fox News.
The pardon, announced less than 45 minutes before Joe Biden took office as president, appeared to be Trump’s last sigh of executive clemency, which in the past two months has enthusiastically rewarded friends, sycophants and people who were for sale. fell into the law.
Al Pirro did not immediately respond to the request for comments he left in his office.
Less than 12 hours before the Pyrrhus pardon was revealed, the White House announced that Trump had pardoned 73 more people and commuted the criminal sentences of 70 people.
Among the recipients of the pardon was a former head of the 2016 Trump campaign, Steve Bannon, who was accused last year of defrauding Trump supporters who wanted to fund a private effort to build a border wall with Mexico, and Republican fundraiser Elliot Broidy, who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign interest lobbyist trying to influence the Trump administration.
“Today, President Donald J. Trump has granted a full pardon to Albert J. Pirro, Jr.,” Trump spokesman Judd Deere said in a one-line statement that, unlike the other leniency actions executive, did not mention Pyrrhus’ crimes, or offer any kind of rationalization as to why he deserved forgiveness.
Al Pirro, a businessman and lawyer known for his sharp clothes and silver-haired hair, was convicted in a trial in New York federal court in 2000 for conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with the illegal deduction of personal expenses of $ 1.2 million. -Offers for your business.
Pyrrhus was sentenced to 29 months in prison at the same time as his then-wife Jeanine was the district attorney for Westchester County, New York, the highest statewide police authority in the county.
Currently, Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, is the target of a criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which observes, among other things, how the company valued real estate assets for tax and other purposes. . As part of this survey, the DA’s office is trying to enforce a subpoena from the grand jury for personal income tax returns from its longtime accountants. Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block that citation.
The New York Times reported last fall that Trump personally paid only $ 750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and paid the same amount during his first year as president. And the Times reported that he paid no income tax in ten of the previous 15 years.
The newspaper noted that Trump for a decade struggled with the IRS to properly claim a tax return of nearly $ 73 million after declaring large losses.
In 2006, Jeanine Pirro, then running as a Republican for the New York Attorney General, confirmed that she was being investigated by federal authorities for speaking to Bernie Kerik, a former police commissioner in New York City. New York, on ways to secretly record. Al Pirro to determine if he had an adventure.
Recordings of conversations between Kerik and Pirro showed that he offered to place a recording device on Al Pirro’s ship.
“What am I supposed to do, Bernie? Look at it like every night?” Pyrrhus asked Kerik, according to the transcripts of his discussion, which were revealed by WNBC-TV at the time.
“What am I supposed to do? … I can go on the boat, I’ll put on the most important thing.
According to the transcript, Kerik asked someone at a consulting firm run by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s current personal attorney, about acquiring a recording device.
Jeanine Pirro was never charged in the case. Nor did she become attorney general, being overthrown in the election by Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.
The following year he announced his divorce from Al Pirro, who had a son with another woman decades earlier, when he and Jeanine were still married.
El Pirro had been hit by a paternity suit while serving his prison sentence for convicting the tax case.
In 2009, Kerik himself pleaded guilty to tax fraud and lying to the government. He was released from prison in 2013.
Last February, Trump issued a pardon to Kerik.
Since then, Kerik has been seen in the company of his former leader Giuliani, as Giuliani traveled the United States promoting claims, which could not be confirmed by significant evidence, that Trump was swindled by a victory in the presidential election. for fraud at the polls.
Jeanine Pirro herself promoted these false claims, which failed to gain strength in a series of lawsuits filed by the campaign and Trump supporters after Biden defeated him easily in both the popular vote and the Electoral contest. College.
“Let people tell you we have no evidence, because yes. And that will only continue,” he said during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program.
“This fraud will continue and America will be doomed for the next 20 years,” Jeanine Pirro said.