Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast.

I'm Ashley Lopez. I cover politics.

I'm Ryan Lucas. I cover the Justice Department.

And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent.

Today on the podcast, we dig into actions by the Trump administration that experts say are undermining the fight against public corruption. Ryan,

you've been reporting on this. Can you tell us what you found? Well, there are two things in

particular that I looked at when looking at the question of public corruption. One of them is

pardons that President Trump has issued for former elected officials and their co-conspirators. And I found that there are at least

15 former elected officials and co-conspirators of there is convicted of or charged with

corruption that the president has pardoned this term. So since January of last year. That's an

average of almost one a month. And the examples run from a former Arkansas

state lawmaker, former Tennessee state house speaker, Antizade. They were convicted in a kickback

scheme with taxpayer-funded mailor services. The one that really sticks out to me is a

former Las Vegas councilwoman named Michelle Fiore.

She was convicted of pocketing $70,000 in donations meant to build memorials to slain police officers

and instead spending money on cosmetic surgery, rent, her daughter's wedding.

Of the 15 pardons, more than half are for Republicans or Trump supporters.

So there does appear to be a partisan angle on this.

I asked the White House if they have any comment on my findings.

And what they said in a statement was that President Trump

has exercised his constitutional authority to issue pardons and commutations, including those who have

been victims of Biden's weaponized justice system. And they went on to say that the only

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