Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald J. Trump speaks during a Precision Custom Components campaign event in York, Pennsylvania, on August 19, 2024.
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A New York federal judge ordered American Probation Officials are investigating the recent arrest of a convicted drug dealer who was released from prison in early 2021 when his 10-year sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump.
The order raises the possibility that drug dealer Jonathan Braun could be sent back to prison for federal marijuana-related convictions after he was arrested last week in Nassau County, New York, on suspicion of assaulting his wife and father-in-law.
It also raises the possibility that Braun could become an issue in the 2024 presidential election, with Trump seeking to portray Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, the vice president and former prosecutor, as soft on crime.
Braun, 41, who also worked in the predatory lending industry, was convicted of Brooklyn Federal Court, New York Conspiracy to import cannabis and money laundering.
After news reports of Braun’s arrest, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto wrote in an order in Braun’s drug case: “The Probation Department shall continue to investigate the matter and notify the court of its findings, Appropriate recommendations will be made at that time.
The document containing the judge’s order has been sealed from public view.
When CNBC asked Braun’s attorney, Marc Fernich, about Matsumoto’s order, the attorney ignored the question.
Instead, he said in an email to CNBC, “Mr. Braun was arrested in Nassau County on suspicion of domestic disturbance.”
“He has remanded on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty and will pursue judicial resolution of these charges,” Fenich said.
John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, which prosecuted Braun in the drug case, declined to comment on the order.
When Braun’s sentence was commuted by Trump on January 20, 2021, Trump’s last day in the White House, he had already served more than five years in prison. As a result of this leniency, Braun was subsequently released from prison.
He was arraigned last week in Nassau County District Court on assault charges. Prosecutors say he attacked his 75-year-old father-in-law last Tuesday, punching him twice in the face as he tried to protect his daughter, Braun’s wife. Braun is also accused of physically assaulting his wife on July 17 and August 12.
He was also charged with petit larceny for driving a Lamborghini and Ferrari without license plates through approximately 40 different intersections without paying a $160 toll.
Braun was released without bail over the objection of the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, which asked a judge to set bail at $35,000.
“President Trump wants criminals to spend time in prison,” a spokesman for Trump’s presidential campaign said last week when asked about Braun’s recent arrest.
In February, a Manhattan federal court judge fined Braun $20 million in a civil case. Federal Trade Commission Prosecute him for predatory lending practices.
In his ruling, Judge Jed Rakoff wrote, citing emails sent by Braun: “The evidence…shows that Mr. Braun not only personally participated in this illegal conduct, but also participated in it cheerfully, almost to the point of No regrets.
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