WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has issued a pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who served nearly two years in prison for making illegal stock trades based on inside information after he left office.
Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison in 2023 for trades made while working as a consultant and lobbyist. He was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000, representing the amount of the illegal gains, and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released in 2025.
In granting “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump cited Buyer’s career as a judge advocate general in the Army and in the House that was “distinguished and highly productive.” The pardon was dated Thursday and released by the White House late Friday.
Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit.” He maintains that he is innocent.
Trump used his Truth Social media platform on May 31 to share a pair of letters requesting a presidential pardon for Buyer, a lawyer and Gulf War veteran who left office in 2011. He was a House prosecutor at Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial and in 2016 he served on Trump’s transition team focusing on veterans’ issues.
A letter signed by more than 40 former Republicans in Congress said Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his involvement in Clinton’s trial.
“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they wrote in the April 2025 letter.
A second letter, from five current House Republicans, said pardoning Buyer would bring justice to his case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.
Buyer, 67, was convicted in connection with insider trading involving the $26.5 billion merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, announced in April 2018, and illegal trades in the management consulting company Navigant when his client Guidehouse was set to acquire it in a deal publicly disclosed weeks later.
The Constitution gives a president broad power to grant pardons for federal crimes. The pardons do not erase a recipient’s criminal record but can be seen as act of mercy or justice.
President Donald Trump talks with reporters after arriving on Air Force One, Friday, June 5, 2026, at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Eau Claire, Wis. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE — Former U.S. Rep. Stephen Buyer, left, trails his lawyer as he leaves Manhattan federal court after pleading not guilty to charges that he participated in an insider trading scheme while working as a consultant, July 27, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Larry Neumeister, File)
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Leo XIV is competing for attention with another VIP in Madrid this weekend, and the pontiff declared his preference in Spain's biggest soccer rivalry.
Puerto Rican sensation Bad Bunny is performing two shows of his 10-concert Spanish tour in the capital.
Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane before his arrival in Madrid on Saturday morning, Leo acknowledged the appeal of Bad Bunny when he referred to anecdotal reports of a newfound spiritual awakening, especially among young people in Spain.
The American pope said he understood that young adults are sensing a lack of meaning in their lives and mused that his visit might help “awaken” something in them.
“If they are confronted with the question ‘Do you want to go see Bad Bunny or do you want to go to see the pope?’ I think many will see Bad Bunny,” Leo said. “But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know.”
Leo is opening a weeklong visit to Spain on Saturday. After Madrid, the trip will also take him to Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He’s hoping to bring a message of unity in a country polarized with political and church scandals.
Leo was also asked about news that plans are moving ahead for his beloved Chicago Bears to move to Hammond, Indiana. The board of the team voted this week to move forward with a stadium development project in Hammond.
Asked if he had any words of consolation for Illinois, the Chicago-born pope quipped: “That’s out of my pay (scale).”
In other sporting comments, Leo confirmed that he would root for the United States in the upcoming World Cup, and showed his true team colors when asked about whether supports Real Madrid or the Barcelona soccer team: “That’s easy,” he said. “The pope is for all teams, but Prevost is Real Madrid,” he said, referring to his birth name.
Leo fielded a host of questions as he greeted journalists traveling with him. He spoke about Ukraine and Lebanon and his recent proclamation that the Catholic Church’s “just war” doctrine — which establishes the criteria when war can be morally justified — was “outdated.”
With Saturday marking the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, Leo also told a French journalist that he would like one day to visit Normandy, France, as pope.
“My father was there,” he said.
It was a reference to Leo’s father, Louis Prevost, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, according to the Pentagon.
Prevost also commanded an infantry landing craft, and after 15 months overseas, attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade, according to a note on the Pentagon website published soon after Leo’s election.
After the war, Prevost became a teacher and school principal in Chicago, got married and he and his wife, Mildred, had three boys. The future pope, Robert Prevost, was the youngest, born on Sept. 14, 1955.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
FILE - Bad Bunny performs in concert during his Debi Tirar Mas Fotos World Tour, at the Allianz Parque stadium in Sao Paulo, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
Pope Leo XIV talks to journalists aboard the papal flight from Rome to Madrid, Saturday, June 6, 2026, on the occasion of his apostolic journey to Spain. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, Pool)
