President Donald Trump has granted a complete pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Indiana Republican congressman who completed nearly two years in federal prison for conducting illegal stock transactions using confidential information after leaving Congress.
Buyer received a 22-month prison sentence in 2023 for trades he executed while working in consulting and lobbying roles. The court also required him to surrender more than $350,000 in unlawful profits and pay a $10,000 penalty. He was released from custody in 2025.
When issuing the “full, complete, and unconditional pardon,” Trump highlighted Buyer’s military service as a judge advocate general in the Army and his congressional career as “distinguished and highly productive.” The White House released the pardon, which bears Thursday’s date, on Friday evening.
Buyer stated the pardon “corrects a politically motivated prosecution” and described his experience as “horrific to be imprisoned for a crime that I did not commit.” He continues to assert his innocence.
On May 31, Trump used his Truth Social platform to post two letters advocating for Buyer’s presidential pardon. Buyer, an attorney and Gulf War veteran, concluded his congressional service in 2011. He participated as a House prosecutor during Democratic President Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment proceedings and joined Trump’s 2016 transition team working on veterans’ affairs.
More than 40 former Republican Congress members signed a letter claiming Buyer was “targeted by the deep state” due to his role in Clinton’s impeachment trial.
“Like you, Mr. President, Steve has been the victim of lawfare conducted by the Biden Administration,” they stated in their April 2025 correspondence.
Five sitting House Republicans authored a separate letter arguing that pardoning Buyer would deliver justice in his case. The June 2025 letter bore signatures from Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ken Calvert of California, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Jack Bergman of Michigan and Pete Sessions of Texas.
The 67-year-old Buyer faced conviction for insider trading connected to the $26.5 billion T-Mobile and Sprint merger announced in April 2018, plus illegal transactions involving management consulting firm Navigant when his client Guidehouse planned to acquire it in a deal revealed publicly weeks afterward.
The Constitution provides presidents with extensive authority to issue pardons for federal offenses. While pardons don’t eliminate a person’s criminal history, they can represent acts of compassion or justice.
