Trump clemency recipient Jonathan Braun arrest eyed by judge

A New York federal judge has ordered U.S. probation officials to investigate the recent arrest of a convicted drug dealer who was released from prison in early 2021 when his 10-year sentence was commuted by former President Donald Trump.

The order raises the possibility that the drug dealer, Jonathan Braun, could be sent back to prison for his federal marijuana-related conviction because of his arrest last week in Nassau County, New York, for allegedly assaulting his wife and father-in-law.

It also raises the prospect that Braun could become an issue in the 2024 presidential election, where Trump is trying to paint Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor, as soft on crime.

Braun, a 41-year-old who has also worked in the predatory lending industry, remains on supervised release for his conviction in Brooklyn, New York, federal court for conspiracy to import marijuana and commit money laundering.

“Probation shall continue to investigate this matter and apprise the Court of your findings and appropriate recommendations shall be offered at that time,” Brooklyn federal court Judge Kiyo Matsumoto wrote in an order docketed in Braun’s drug case, following news reports that Braun had been arrested on state charges in Nassau County.

The document containing the judge’s order is sealed from public view.

When CNBC asked Braun’s lawyer, Marc Fernich, about Matsumoto’s order, the attorney ignored the question.

Instead, he said in an email to CNBC, “Mr. Braun was arrested in Nassau County in connection with an alleged domestic disturbance.”

“He was released on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty and will address the allegations judicially,” Fernich said.

John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office that prosecuted Braun in the drug case, declined to comment on the order.

Braun had served more than five years in prison when his sentence was commuted by Trump Jan. 20, 2021, on Trump’s last day in the White House. Braun then walked free from prison as a result of that clemency.

He was arraigned last week in Nassau County District Court on assault charges. Prosecutors say he assaulted his 75-year-old father-in-law last Tuesday by punching him twice in the face as the older man was trying to protect his daughter, Braun’s wife, from him. Braun also is accused of physically assaulting his wife on July 17 and on Aug. 12.

He also is charged with petit larceny for failing to pay $160 in bridge tolls while driving a Lamborghini and Ferrari, both of which lack license plates, over about 40 different crossings.

Braun was freed without bail over the objections of the Nassau County district attorney’s office, which asked a judge to set bond at $35,000.

A spokeswoman for Trump’s presidential campaign last week said, “President Trump wants criminals to spend time behind bars” when asked about Braun’s recent arrest.

A Manhattan federal court judge in February fined Braun $20 million in a civil case where the Federal Trade Commission had sued him for predatory lending practices.

“The evidence … shows that Mr. Braun not only personally participated in this illegal conduct, but did so gleefully, with little remorse,” Judge Jed Rakoff wrote in that ruling, citing emails Braun had sent.