President Trump in his final hour as commander in chief on Wednesday pardoned the ex-husband of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
Trump granted a full pardon to Albert J. Pirro Jr., a White House spokesperson said after the president landed in Florida.
Albert Pirro, an attorney and lobbyist, was convicted in 2000 of conspiracy and tax evasion after prosecutors said he improperly deducted more than $1 million in his personal expenses as business write-offs to lower his tax bill.
The conviction came at the same time Jeanine Pirro was serving as the Westchester County district attorney and was considered a contender for the GOP nomination to run for U.S. Senate in New York.
The Pirros were married from 1975 to 2013.
Jeanine Pirro has been one of Trump’s most outspoken defenders on Fox News, and the president called in to her Saturday night show periodically. She was spotted at the White House multiple times throughout Trump’s term.
The pardon for Albert Pirro came roughly 10 hours after Trump granted clemency to more than 100 people in one of his final acts as president, and it again reflected how most of the president’s pardons and commutations were given to allies or politically connected individuals.
Trump announced a wave of pardons and commutations shortly after midnight on Wednesday for former chief strategist Stephen Bannon, rapper Lil Wayne, GOP fundraiser Elliot Broidy and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D), along with dozens of lower-profile individuals whose cases were raised by criminal justice reform advocates.