President Trump’s Pardon of Heroic Sheriff Scott Jenkins May Be His Best to Date

On Memorial Day, President Trump announced the full and unconditional pardon of former Culpeper County, Va. Sheriff Scott Jenkins.

On Memorial Day, President Trump announced the full and unconditional pardon of former Culpeper County, Va. Sheriff Scott Jenkins

The political prosecution of Sheriff Jenkins was among the most egregious attacks on law enforcement by the Biden administration. Jenkins was prosecuted for taking alleged bribes to deputize several men after an elaborate FBI sting campaign and sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted.

"Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DOJ," Trump wrote in his pardon announcement on Truth Social. "In fact, during his trial, when Sheriff Jenkins tried to offer exculpatory evidence to support himself, the Biden Judge, Robert Ballou, refused to allow it, shut him down, and then went on a tirade."

The kangaroo court proceeding against Sheriff Jenkins was arranged by Judge Ballou, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh and Biden’s FBI that was on the hunt to make an example out of prominent MAGA figures.

Judge Ballou was appointed to the bench by former President Biden and received a glowing letter of endorsement signed by Virginia Democrat U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

"He's well known, he's respected in the Western District of Virginia for running his courtroom in a fair and efficient manner while assuring that all parties, even low income people who might be unrepresented, often there are pro-se cases before federal courts all parties are respected and heard," Kaine said.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Kavanaugh was also put into his position by Biden at the behest of Sens. Warner and Kaine, and Kavanaugh thanked both men personally in his resignation letter following Trump’s election in 2024.

Sheriff Jenkins was among the most outspoken officials in support of President Trump’s agenda and never hesitated to use his authority to protect the rights of the people in Culpeper County.

He appeared with President Trump at the White House in a show of solidarity with other sheriffs and law enforcement officials from across the country in 2018. This caused Sheriff Jenkins to gain national notoriety and become the focus of biased hit pieces from the press.

When former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced draconian gun control measures, Sheriff Jenkins was out in front to oppose the measures. Sheriff Jenkins announced publicly that Northam’s gun control would not be enforced in his county, using his rightful constitutional authority to nullify those intolerable acts.

“If the legislature decides to restrict certain weapons I feel harms our community, I will swear in thousands of auxiliary deputies in Culpeper. There’s no limit to the number of people I can swear in,” Jenkins said.

“America has more guns than citizens and murder has long been illegal. At best, the proposed gun restrictions will disarm or handicap our law-abiding in their defense and possibly cause a criminal to choose another tool for evil,” he added.

Sheriff Jenkins also defied Northam on COVID edicts, vowing not to comply with health edicts forcing businesses to close during the height of pandemic fear.

"My response to that request is that we will not trample the constitutional freedoms of our citizens to enforce an edict of the Governor. I do not speak for any of the other jurisdictions in the health district," Sheriff Jenkins stated.

Sheriff Jenkins was the victim of lawfare from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for his strict enforcement of federal immigration policy. After Sheriff Jenkins turned over illegal alien Francisco Guardado Rios to the Department of Homeland Security, the ACLU sued Sheriff Jenkins claiming he violated Rios’ 4th and 14th Amendment rights. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by Senior District Judge Glen Conrad for its lack of merit.

The defense statement in his trial noted that Sheriff Jenkins “was a well-known border-security advocate, working closely with border sheriffs and taking a strong public stance against the Biden administration’s open-border policies.”

The use of nullification and the deputization of law-abiding gun owners are major tools that sheriffs can use to make gun control and other Democrat overreach untenable. Because Sheriff Jenkins knew how to push back against Democrat tyranny at the local level, he became a target of a Biden regime desperate to scare other sheriffs away from deputizing citizens to defend the Constitution.

Although Sheriff Jenkins was bled dry through the cruel process and suffered tremendous indignities from the federal government, he now stands vindicated because of President Trump’s pardon. Sheriff Jenkins will return to Virginia a hero, and sheriffs throughout the country will be emboldened and empowered to fight Democrat tyranny in his example.