Ben Hider/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The White House announced Thursday that President Donald Trump has pardoned controversial commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating campaign finance laws.

In a statement, press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump has issued a full pardon to D’Souza.

“Mr. D’Souza was, in the president’s opinion, a victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws. Mr. D’Souza accepted responsibility for his actions, and also completed community service by teaching English to citizens and immigrants seeking citizenship. In light of these facts, the president has determined that Mr. D’Souza is fully worthy of this pardon,” Sanders said in a statement.

Earlier Thursday, the president tweeted that D’Souza had been treated “very unfairly by our government.”

D’Souza tweeted his thanks to the president a few hours after the news broke.

According to the White House press pool traveling on Air Force One on a trip to Texas, President Trump said “he is considering pardoning or commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Martha Stewart.”

D’Souza, who has a reputation for racially tinged commentary, pleaded guilty in 2014 to violating campaign finance laws for reimbursing friends who made donations to New York Senate candidate Wendy Long, who was challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

His cause was taken up by some on the political right as an example of anti-conservative bias during the Obama administration.

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