Among the many things that have people scratching their heads about former President Donald Trump's final hours in office was this: He commuted the sentence of Kwame Kilpatrick, the disgraced mayor of Detroit, a place where 95% of voters had just cast ballots for Joe Biden.
And Trump has never said why he did it.
A new ad funded by a Super PAC that supports Trump's GOP rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis casts shade at Trump's decision, calling Kilpatrick a 'stone cold thief.' Kilpatrick was sentenced in 2013 to 28 years behind bars for leading a criminal enterprise out of City Hall, taking bribes and kickbacks and steering lucrative 'pay to play' contracts to friends.
The ad claims Trump released Kilpatrick 16 years early after "Kwame's millionaire friend approached Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and $100,000 later Trump let Kwame out of jail." See the ad.
"Not even President Obama would give him clemency," the ad adds.
The storyline follows the claim that Kilpatrick's billionaire friend Peter Karmanos appealing to Kushner is what secured Kilpatrick's release. Get more on that, but know that Trump and Kushner have never confirmed that was what caused Kilpatrick's release.
"Ron DeSantis is gonna drain the swamp, Vote him for President this 2024," says the first comment on the ad on You Tube. Another says, "Why do Republicans want Trump when we have someone like Desantis who is honestly the strongest conservative candidate we've had in 20+ years."
For his part, Karmanos has said he was part of a group that petitioned for Kilpatrick to be freed because he believed a 28-year sentence for financial misdeeds was unjustifiably long.
However it happened, Kilpatrick talked about deep gratitude since his release and has moved to Georgia, where he runs an online ministry with his new wife. "I dropped to my knees, I thanked God, and I promised Him that I would stay faithful to Him," Kilpatrick told Deadline Detroit in a 2021 interview when he was released from federal prison. "And I went to sleep."
Kilpatrick has also been tied for more than a decade by rumor to questions surrounding the murder of exotic dancer Tamara 'Strawberry' Greene. The case is the subject of a new nine-episode true crime podcast. Listen to 'Who Killed Strawberry' wherever you get podcasts.
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