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Today, Explained

The Silk Road pardon

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.310.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 January 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Donald Trump pardoned Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht and launched his own memecoin, signaling a new attitude toward cryptocurrency in his second term. This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn and Peter Balonon-Rosen, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and Victoria Chamberlin, engineered by Andrea Kristinsdottir and Rob Byers, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members A supporter of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road underground market who was serving life in prison until President Trump pardoned him on his first full day in office. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

One of the last things President Biden did in his way out of office was pardon his siblings and their spouses.

0:07.4

What did they do? We may never know.

0:09.7

One of the first things President Trump did on his way back into office was pardoned everyone involved with January 6th.

0:16.5

What did they do? Everyone knows.

0:19.0

But it wasn't just the insurrectionists.

0:21.4

Trump also pardoned two dishonest DC cops and 23 anti-abortion activists.

0:27.9

A lot of these may come as no surprise if you're familiar with the president's politics,

0:32.1

but he also pardoned a guy named Ross Ulbricht, known to some dorks as Dread Pirate Roberts.

0:38.3

And this is an important moment for everybody, everywhere, who loves freedoms.

0:44.3

Ross was the creator of the Silk Road, a dark website where you could score heroin and fentanyl, among other things.

0:51.3

That particular pardon doesn't seem to line up with our purported law and order

0:55.3

president, so we're going to look into it on today's explained.

1:00.1

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1:04.1

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1:09.4

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1:21.2

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1:35.6

Mike has always wondered what makes some people want to play action hero.

1:40.9

When I see people speeding or skydiving or surfing on 100 foot waves,

1:42.8

I always think, are you crazy? What are you doing?

1:44.4

Because I'm like risk averse.

1:49.9

I'm trying to like, you know, keep Mike in one piece. But what about people who get their thrills from playing cop? This week on Explain It to Me, Citizens Arrest. Is it a real thing? And

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