Trump pardons former GOP congressman Robin Hayes, several others with NC ties

Former Republican Congressman Robin Hayes, swept up in one of North Carolina’s worst political corruption scandals, received a pardon from President Donald Trump that was announced early Wednesday in the final hours of his presidency.

Trump also pardoned four other Charlotte-area figures, including a member of a prominent NASCAR family who was convicted of insider trading, the former CEO of a cleaning company, and the head of a prominent road-building company who went to prison in 2015 for defrauding the federal government. The CEO of a holding company that owns and operates several of Charlotte’s priciest restaurants also was on the presidential pardons list.

In a statement released by his attorney, Kearns Davis of Greensboro, Hayes expressed gratitude for his pardon.

“I am extremely grateful to President Trump for considering my case,” the 75-year-old said. “I am also incredibly thankful for the constant prayer blessed upon me by friends and supporters over the past few years.”

In a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial on public-corruption charges and a potentially long prison term, Hayes pleaded guilty in 2019 to lying to the FBI in connection with the plot to bribe Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.

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(Raleigh News & Observer)