Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE.) was endorsed by President Donald J. Trump in 2019, but has now publicly denounced the 74-year-old president for using his authority to issue full pardons to 26 more people on Wednesday night.
Sasse’s office said Trump had pardoned “another tranche of felons.” The statement continued by specifically naming former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and the president’s longtime associate Roger Stone, both of whom the statement said “flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law and harmed Americans.”
In his statement, Sasse noted, “This is rotten to the core.”
Trump previously attacked Sasse in a series of tweets in October prior to the incumbent’s re-election in Nebraska. Prior to that, Sasse publicly criticized the president over the summer on issues including QAnon supporters, the administration’s foreign policy, national security and for mishandling the pandemic.