This developing story will be updated
Former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who was convicted on federal bribery and extortion charges, has been pardoned by President Donald Trump, according to a CNN report.
The case against Sittenfeld centered on donations to his political action committee, which prosecutors said he solicited from an informant for the FBI and FBI agents posing as developers of a downtown Cincinnati project. Prosecutors said Sittenfeld’s actions went beyond campaign fundraising and crossed the line into bribery.
A jury found him guilty in 2022. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Campaign contributions are typically protected by the First Amendment, but the question is when that crosses a line and becomes bribery. Sittenfeld has always said that what he did was ordinary politics.
Sittenfeld has taken his case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn his conviction.
