Category: Pardon
Jelly Roll receives second chance, thanks to Tennessee governor’s Christmas season tradition
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) maintains an annual Christmas season tradition of granting clemency to select individuals, highlighting stories of redemption and second chances.
This year, Lee extended pardons to 33 individuals. The most notable beneficiary was country music star Jelly Roll, who was previously convicted of robbery and drug felonies.
‘His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for.’
“I am genuinely inspired by the broadness of the folks that are getting pardons today,” Lee said, the Tennessean reported.
The governor called his pardon power “a very serious responsibility.”
While federal pardons allow convicted individuals to avoid prison time, Tennessee pardons serve as a statement of forgiveness after time has been served. The AP reported that they offer a path to restoring certain civil rights, including voting rights. The governor may specify the terms of the pardon.
Jelly Roll, whose given name is Jason DeFord, stated during a January 2024 congressional hearing that his right to vote had been restricted due to his criminal past.
Jelly Roll. Photo by Georgiana Dallas/WWE via Getty Images
As part of the clemency process, applications undergo a months-long review, the Associated Press reported. The state parole board reportedly issued a unanimous, non-binding recommendation for Jelly Roll in April.
The music artist visited the governor’s mansion on Thursday to receive the news.
“His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for,” Lee stated.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Jelly Roll stated that the clemency would make it easier for him to travel internationally for his concert tours and Christian missionary work.
Earlier this month, while appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Jelly Roll received word that he had been invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“I didn’t even dream of it,” Jelly Roll told Rogan. “God will make things bigger than your dreams. Somebody out there right now is dreaming of something, and it’s too small. Dream bigger, baby.”
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Bondi has bad news for Fauci, Milley, and other Biden pardonees: DOJ is actively reviewing Biden-era autopen use
The House Oversight Committee published a damning 100-page report on Tuesday deeming invalid those executive actions and pardons issued without proper authorization and with machine-generated signatures in former President Joe Biden’s name.
In a corresponding letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) noted that the committee had found “President Biden’s aides coordinated a cover-up of the president’s diminishing faculties” and “that these same aides utilized an ad hoc, inconsistent, and ineffective process to obtain President Biden’s assent to certain key decisions, which raises significant questions about whether President Biden knew — let alone provided a decision regarding — the ‘decisions’ that, often through the use of an autopen, ultimately bore his signature.”
Comer asked Bondi to investigate all executive actions taken during Biden’s time in office “to ascertain whether they were duly authorized by the president of the United States.”
Hours after the publication of the report and the committee’s assertion that Biden’s executive actions are “NULL and VOID,” Bondi revealed on X that her “team has already initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons.”
President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on June 4 directing the White House Counsel’s Office to investigate, in consultation with Bondi and the head of any other relevant agency, “whether certain individuals conspired to deceive the public about Biden’s mental state and unconstitutionally exercise the authorities and responsibilities of the president.”
Trump specifically tasked the investigators with looking into the “circumstances surrounding Biden’s supposed execution of numerous executive actions” and reviewing the policy documents for which the autopen was used, including clemency grants and executive orders.
RELATED: House committee declares unauthorized Biden autopen pardons ‘void’ in damning new report
Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
The Oversight Project, a government watchdog group, concluded in a Monday report that after reviewing approximately 1,597 enrolled copies of documents bearing Biden’s signature, 846 of 958 executive orders, pardons, commutations, and proclamations were signed with autopen.
Of the Biden-era documents analyzed, Oversight Project indicated that 75% of the pardons — including for Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — and 51.8% of the commutations were signed with autopen.
‘The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.’
Bondi noted that Comer’s “new information is extremely helpful, and his leadership on this issue is invaluable,” adding that the DOJ will continue working with the House Oversight Committee “to deliver accountability for the American people.”
Ed Martin, the DOJ’s pardon attorney who announced a similar investigation into the matter of Biden’s alleged pardons in May, responded to Bondi’s statement with emojis signifying police and the scales of justice. Martin also suggested that the Oversight Project’s statistics regarding autopen usage during the Biden administration warrant “closer review.”
A determination that some or all of the Biden-era pardons are invalid could prove consequential for many of the recipients, including Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who received a “full and unconditional” pass for possible federal crimes going back to 2014, and for Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom Trump has accused of committing “treason.”
However, Trump has made clear that he especially wishes to see consequence visited on the former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee.
Trump announced after the Oversight Project’s initial exposé about the liberal use of the presidential autopen during the Biden administration,
The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level.
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