Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht given full pardon by Donald Trump

What just happened? Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the once-infamous dark web drug marketplace Silk Road, has been given a full pardon by President Donald Trump. Ulbricht, 40, had been serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole since being sentenced in 2015, and has been behind bars since 2013.

In a post on his Truth Social network, Trump wrote, "The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous."

Trump said he called Ulbricht's mother to let her know that he was signing the pardon in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which he said had supported the president strongly.

"Ross Ulbricht has been a libertarian political prisoner for more than a decade. I'm proud to say that saving his ...