The CAN-DO Foundation is overjoyed by President Trump’s first commutation of sentence to Sholom Rubashkin, an Iowa kosher meatpacking executive. This is remarkable for two reasons. It’s very rare for a president to commute a sentence in their first year in office. President Obama, who granted a record number of commutations, only granted one in his third year in office on November 21, 2011 to Eugenia Marie Jennings. He did not grant any more until his second term on December 19, 2013 to eight individuals, all convicted of drug crimes. We hope this is an indication that President Trump is interested in granting commutations to numerous individuals who have paid their price to society for what are typically non-violent crimes, especially if they were a first time offender. The CAN-DO Foundation has profiled many individuals on our website who are serving 20 years to life and are equally deserving of mercy. We are optimistic this commutation, so early in Trump’s presidency is an indication of more to come.
Time Magazine shared the following about President Trump’s act of mercy – read more here.
President Trump Commutes Sentence for Kosher Meatpacking Exec Convicted of Fraud
President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of an Iowa kosher meatpacking executive who was sentence to 27 years in prison for money laundering.
The commutation is Trump’s first in office and comes following the encouragement of multiple members of congress and other high-ranking officials who argued the sentence was too harsh.
Sholom Rubashkin ran the Iowa headquarters of Agriprocessors, a family business that was the country’s largest kosher meat-processing company. More of the story can be viewed by clicking the link above.
More details on Fox can be viewed here.
The action was “encouraged by bipartisan leaders from across the political spectrum, from Nancy Pelosi to Orrin Hatch,” the White House said.