Kim steering clear of Trump on pardons

Rep. Andy Kim declined to say whether President Donald Trump should pardon former Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore Wednesday.

“I have no comments when it comes to the pardonings,” Kim said. “I saw what the president did just yesterday when it came to pardons, and I find this all to be so bizarre, really.”

Trump issued pardons for two former Republican congressmen, Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and four Blackwater guards involved in a massacre of civilians in Iraq.

Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison earlier this year for illegally using mora than $200,000 in campaign contributions for personal expenses.

Collins pleaded guilty to securities fraud and making a false statement last year. He passed non-public information about a failed drug trial to his son, who traded on the information to avoid more than $750,000 in losses.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to investigators working under former Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his probe into Russian electoral interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

A jury found Gilmore guilty of on two counts of failing to pay employee payroll taxes and one count of making a false statement on a bank loan application last April. He was sentenced to 366 days imprisonment in January.