It is March and the lovely #EnigMarch people have challenged puzzle designers to write a puzzle inspired by today's word: "out".
Oh no! The USA clown President Trump keeps pardoning blatant thieves, fraudsters, and worse! Silver lining, I got a puzzle out of it.
Below are 15 people who received pardons and/or commuted sentences from Trump. For each, figure out which one broad category best describes their case. Depending on the category, write down the Nth letter of their surname. (Yeah, I put in five blanks per name, but just fill in one of those per person.)
After you fill in the correct blanks (one per name), the letters should spell out how Trump views the US Presidency.
- 📥️ Bribees: 2nd letter
- Received bribes
- 🗳️ Fake Electors Plot: 3rd letter
- Attempted to overturn 2020 presidential election by, among other things, having groups of fake electors meet and vote
- 💰️ Bribers: 4th letter
- Gave bribes
- 🫧 Money launderers: 5th letter
- Epstein's favorite use for cryptocurrency
- 6️⃣ January 6 Insurrectionists: 6th letter
- Stormed the Capitol building, killed some people, etc
| 📥️ (2) | 🗳️ (3) | 💰️ (4) | 🫧 (5) | 6️⃣ (6) | |
| _ | _ | _ | A | _ | MorgAn, Marian Wire fraud (7 counts); money laundering (6 counts). Convicted in a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of $28 million. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Blagojevich, Rod Corrupt solicitation of funds; conspiracy to corruptly solicit funds (two counts). Illinois governor convicted of "selling" the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Ulbricht, Ross Conspiracy to commit money laundering. Also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts", Ulbricht founded the illegal online black market website Silk Road. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Garced, Wanda Vázquez Conspiracy (two counts); federal program bribery (two counts). Charges reduced to misdemeanors after a conspirator's daughter donated $3.5M to MAGA Inc. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Huttle, Matthew Sentenced in November 2023 to six months in prison and a year of supervised release for entering the Capitol and multiple offices. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Valenzuela, Anabel Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine; conspiracy to commit money laundering. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Eastman, John Eastman's alleged role as "a legal architect of the plan" to advance "fake electors" in Arizona led to his indictment on conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges there in April 2024. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Jenkins, Scott Howard As Sheriff of Culpeper County Jenkins received $75,000 in bribes, as cash and as campaign donations, from numerous individuals who he then appointed as auxiliary deputy sheriffs. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Hostetter, Alan Founder of the American Phoenix Project. On January 6, used a megaphone to encourage the crowd to push through the police line and breach areas of the Capitol. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Tarrio, Enrique Convened a "Ministry of Self Defense" (or "MOSD") to coordinate Proud Boys leadership on January 6. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Rossini, Mark T Conspiracy (two counts); federal program bribery (two counts). Charges reduced to misdemeanors after a conspirator's daughter donated $3.5M to MAGA Inc. (Same conspiracy as Garced) |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Milton, Trevor Former Chairman and CEO of Nikola Corporation, convicted at trial for making false and misleading statements to investors. Donated $1.8 million to Trump's re-election campaign fund |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Chesebro, Kenneth Proposed the "alternate slate" strategy: Fake electors meet and vote at the same time that real electors did. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Callahan, James As President of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Callahan received at least $315,000 in presents from an advertising firm with which the union did business. Callahan failed to report the kickbacks. |
| _ | _ | _ | _ | _ | Ellis, Jenna Met with Michigan's House Oversight Committee and urged the lawmakers to ignore the certified results. Met with Arizona lawmakers, again urged for the popular vote result to be ignored, suggesting that lawmakers should not appoint pro-Biden presidential electors. |
What's that spell?
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Many thanks to Wikipedia's List of people granted executive clemency in the second Trump administration page.
Puzzle solution, rot13'd:
ynhaqre / zbetNa / znevna oevorr / oYntbwrivpu / ebq ynhaqre / hyoeVpug / ebff oevore / tnePrq / jnaqn iámdhrm w6 / uhggyR / znggurj ynhaqre / inyrAmhryn / nanory snxr / rnFgzna / wbua oevorr / wRaxvaf / fpbgg ubjneq w6 / ubfgrGgre / nyna w6 / gneevB / raevdhr oevore / ebfFvav / znex g oevore / zvyGba / geribe snxr / puRfroeb / xraargu oevorr / pNyynuna / wnzrf snxr / ryYvf / wraan
