On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order granting a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road. The announcement came through Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, where he stated it was his “pleasure” to grant clemency to Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence since 2015.
Ulbricht, 40, was convicted for his role in creating and running Silk Road, a dark web marketplace used for the sale of illegal drugs and other items. The pardon fulfills a promise Trump made during his presidential campaign, which gained widespread attention among libertarian activists and criminal justice reform advocates.
Donald Trump Justifies Ross Ulbricht Clemency Decision
President Donald Trump has stated his displeasure with the legal process that resulted in Ulbricht receiving a life sentence. In a post on the Truth Social platform, he called the sentence “ridiculous” and lambasted the actors in the case as “the same freaks” who, he alleged, conspired against him during his time in the White House.
Trump said he had talked to Ulbricht’s mother during his first full day back in the White House and informed her that he would be pardoning her son. ”Ross has done enough time in jail for non-violent crimes,” said Trump. Amid this pardon, bullish momentum has resurfaced with TRUMP memecoin recovering and price soaring to $42.03, a 20% surge from the intra-day low of $32.
The pardon has elicited cheers and jeers as Ulbricht’s case has been a subject of division for quite some time. Some of the people defending him say that the punishment he received was severe while others claim that the platform was used to coordinate large-scale drug distribution. However, despite the pardon, Ross Ulbricht (ROSS) token price dipped over 51% to trade at $0.01091, as of press time.
Libertarian Support and Calls for Clemency
The Libertarian Party has been advocating for getting leniency for Ulbricht. Chair of the Libertarian National Committee Angela McArdle said he is a “political prisoner” and praised the decision to pardon as a victory for their cause.
“Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for over ten years,” McArdle said in a statement. She also thanked Donald Trump for taking action, saying it was ‘a long-overdue step toward justice.’
Senator Rand Paul, who had encouraged Trump to intervene, also voiced support for a clemency for Ulbricht. Paul said that Ulbricht received a harsh sentence than the drug dealers who used the Silk Road. He pointed to several cases of car dealers getting from five to ten years behind the bars, while Ulbricht was given two life terms without a chance for parole.
Ulbricht’s Time in Prison and Path to Clemency
Ulbricht has spent more than 11 years in federal prison and has not violated any prison rules while serving time. According to media, he has not only spent his time in prison teaching math and science but also practicing yoga.
His defense and friends have also called attention to the inconsistencies in the case such as charges for murder for hire that were dropped. His clemency lawyer Brandon Sample thanked Trump for fulfilling the promise made during his campaign saying that the decision has bought ‘relief and hope’ to Ulbricht’s family.
Ulbricht’s case had not remained confined to the libertarian community only. Supporters of criminal justice reform said his punishment exemplifies what they believe is excessive punishment for non-violent crimes.
Broader Context of Donald Trump’s Pardons
The pardon for Ulbricht is within a list of many executive orders that Donald Trump has signed since he began his second term in office. On Monday, Trump commuted the sentences of approximately 1,500 people who have been charged in relation to the January 6 Capitol attack sparking controversies.
The pardon also had support from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a supporter of the Trump administration. He announced the decision on social media where he said, “Ross will be freed too.”
Ulbricht, who founded Silk Road under the alias of Dread Pirate Roberts, was arrested in 2013 and found guilty in 2015. He was the first to offer his platform as a marketplace for purchasing goods and services using Bitcoin on the dark web.
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