Drug Dealer Commuted By Trump Now Back in Custody

A convicted New York drug dealer whose 10-year federal prison sentence was commuted by President Trump is back in custody after he was accused of several crimes, including assaulting a toddler. Jonathan Braun was charged Friday with violating the terms of his supervised release and ordered detained in Brooklyn federal court, the Associated Press reports. The 41-year-old Long Island resident was arrested at a hotel Friday morning. Judge Kiyo Matsumoto deemed him a danger to the community. Braun is charged with seven violations of his release stemming from multiple arrests over the past seven months. Braun has been charged with assault of an elderly man; assault of his wife; groping his nanny’s breast without her permission; assault of a 3-year-old child and menacing a hospital staffer.

Braun pleaded guilty to drug-related charges and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in 2019. He served a year behind bars before Trump commuted his sentence in the final days of his first term in January 2021. Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, said Trump “stands by” his decision. “There is always a risk in granting pardons, and it’s unfortunate when this privilege is abused,” he said. Braun had been a high-ranking member of an international group that smuggled more than 220,460 pounds of marijuana from Canada into the U.S.. The drugs were transported mostly through Native American reservations along the border in vehicles with secret compartments. They were then delivered to stash houses in New York City before being distributed by street-level dealers throughout the metropolitan area. In one of the criminal cases that prompted Friday’s arrest, prosecutors say Braun fought with a guest during a March 29 event observing the Sabbath at his home in Lawrence, about 20 miles east of Manhattan. Braun punched the man in the face, shoved him to the ground, then pushed his 3-year-old son to the ground, leaving a red mark on the child’s back. He has been charged with two counts of assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.