How powerful figures were prosecuted in Trump’s first term, then pardoned in his second term

In President Donald Trump’s first term, his Justice Department actively pursued those accused of fraud and corruption. James Burnham, who argued the appeals, had served in the White House Counsel’s Office and the Justice Department during Trump’s first term. A judge later set aside the conviction, but Trump’s Justice Department appealed the ruling and an appeals court reinstated it in 2020. That lawyer, David Warrington, a longtime Republican legal strategist who held various legal roles during Trump’s 2016 campaign, later became White House Counsel in Trump’s second term. Warrington “was fully recused from the entire process,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email.