WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump plans to announce at the National Libertarian Convention on Saturday that he seeks to commute the life sentence of “Silk Road” website operator Ross Ulbricht, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for creating and operating a hidden website known as the “Silk Road,” which people used to buy and sell drugs, among other illegal goods and services.
Many libertarians called for Ulbricht’s release. At Saturday’s convention, the crowd was filled with “Free Ross” signs and began chanting in support of Ulbricht.
However, Trump’s previous comments about drug traffickers are in conflict with Saturday’s planned announcement about Ulbricht.
The former president he said that the death penalty should be instituted for certain drug traffickers, depending on the severity of the crime.
Preet Bharara, who was the U.S. attorney in Manhattan when Ulbricht was convicted in 2015, said in a press release at the time that Ulbricht’s actions contributed to at least six deaths. Bharara Thealso cafilled Ulbricht “a drug dealer and criminal profiteer”.
“While in operation, Silk Road was used by thousands of drug traffickers and other illegal sellers to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other illegal goods and services to more than 100,000 buyers, and to launder hundreds of millions of dollars of proceeds of these illegal transactions,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a 2015 press release announcing Ulbricht’s sentence.
On Friday night, the libertarian crowd was hostile to mentions of Trump, and the audience booed when Vivek Ramaswamy mentioned the former president. Separately, the crowd cheered a Libertarian Party member’s suggestion that “let’s tell Donald Trump to fuck off.”
“What he’s really trying to do is show that he can be a president for all Americans,” a Trump campaign official said before the former president’s comments. “If you want to compete for non-traditional Republican votes, then you have to go where they are. You can’t expect them to just show up for you.”
The Libertarian National Convention is taking place at the Washington Hilton hotel in DC.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
