Trump offers Ashley Moody a pardon on stage, with no charges in sight

Donald Trump has found a faster way to hand out pardons: skip the charges.

In Daytona Beach on Friday, Trump told the crowd that Sen. Ashley Moody’s Democratic opponent, Angie Nixon, “said she wants her opponent locked up in prison immediately.” Then, with Moody there: “Should I give Ashley a pardon? I think so. Ashley, we’re going to give you a pardon.”

His account of Nixon: asked “for what reason,” she had no idea, he said. She gave one on CNN this month, per Mediaite: the $10 million from a Medicaid settlement that Moody’s attorney general’s office approved for Casey DeSantis’s Hope Florida foundation, money that ended up with political committees. A Leon County grand jury found the money was “misappropriated” but brought no charges, citing insufficient evidence, Mediaite reported, citing CBS News Miami. A state appeals court later ordered the report expunged, saying the panel had alleged wrongdoing without handing up indictments, per the NY Post. Moody has not been charged with anything.

The fine print: a president’s pardon power reaches only federal offenses, and that grand jury was a state one. Same speech, different candidate: Trump said Mary Peltola “should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted.” One he wants prosecuted, the other he’d pardon.