There's a lot to talk about with pardons, and we're going to get into all of it tonight.

But I want to start tonight with a story that is about a pardon, and it's a story out of

Cole Pepper County of Virginia.

Now, for the first few years, that county in Virginia, it's only about an hour and a half from here,

has been rocked by a pretty big scandal, a pretty huge one, actually.

After it was discovered that their local sheriff had been accepting bribes.

Now, just to give you a sense of the scope of this story, here's how the local NBC station in the

area has been reporting on it. For years, Culpeper County residents saw Scott Jenkins as their

elected sheriff, their local lawman holding the line

in Culpepper, but behind the scenes. We now know Jenkins was collecting bribes for years.

Some for his campaign, some just for him. Investigators testified in this video, Jenkins is

accepting a $5,000 check from a Virginia businessman.

I will make it official with a badge.

Seconds later, Jenkins rewards the man with an auxiliary deputy badge.

In all, federal prosecutors proved Jenkins took $110,000 in bribes from 10 men, including

two undercover FBI agents from 2015 to 2023. In many cases, caught on undercover video accepting the money.

Each of them sworn in as an auxiliary deputy and given a badge, allowing them enhanced gun rights

and as some testified, the hope of being able to get out of speeding tickets.

I mean, there was a lot in there, including, okay, so I'm going to make it official with a bag,

literally a bag of cash. That was what just happened in that clip. So basically, the sheriff

in Colbepper County had been taking bribes for years, as you just saw in that coverage,

in the form of both campaign donations and cash in the bag, like the one the guy referenced. And as a side note, I mean, this is one of the stunning parts of this.

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