By Sabiu Abdullahi
United States President Donald Trump has granted a presidential pardon to former Republican Congressman Stephen Buyer, who was convicted of insider trading and served nearly two years in prison.
The pardon, dated Thursday, was made public by the White House late on Friday.
Buyer, a former representative from Indiana, received a 22-month prison sentence in 2023 after a federal court found him guilty of making illegal stock trades based on confidential information obtained while he worked as a consultant and lobbyist after leaving Congress. The court also ordered him to surrender more than $350,000 in profits linked to the trades and pay a $10,000 fine. He was released from prison in 2025.
The US Supreme Court declined to hear Buyer’s appeal in May, issuing its decision without comment.
In the pardon document, Trump granted “a full, complete, and unconditional pardon” to Buyer. The president pointed to Buyer’s service as a judge advocate general in the US Army and his years in Congress, describing his public record as “distinguished and highly productive”.
Responding to the decision, Buyer said the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and that it was “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit”. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Trump had previously signaled support for Buyer’s pardon request. On May 31, he shared two letters on his Truth Social platform that urged him to grant clemency to the former lawmaker, who is also a Gulf War veteran.
Buyer served as a House prosecutor during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton in 1998. He also worked on Trump’s presidential transition team in 2016, where he focused on veterans’ affairs.
One of the letters, signed by more than 40 former Republican members of Congress, argued that Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” because of his role in Clinton’s impeachment proceedings.
“Like you, Mr President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” the former lawmakers wrote in an April 2025 letter.
A separate letter from five current Republican members of the House of Representatives stated that a pardon would help deliver justice in Buyer’s case. The June 2025 letter was signed by Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.
Buyer, 67, was convicted over trades connected to the $26.5 billion merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, which was announced in 2018. Prosecutors also linked him to illegal trading involving consulting firm Navigant before its planned acquisition by Guidehouse became public.
Under the US Constitution, the president has broad authority to grant pardons for federal offences. While a pardon does not remove a criminal conviction from a person’s record, it is often viewed as an act of mercy or a remedy for perceived injustice.
