Donald Trump's Pardon of Cybersecurity Expert Chris Wade and the Secret Crime Unveiled
January 2025
In a surprising move, former U.S. President Donald Trump granted a presidential pardon to Chris Wade, a cybersecurity expert, as one of his last acts in office. The pardon was initially puzzling as no public record of Wade being charged with a crime was available. However, recently unsealed court documents have shed light on the situation.Wade, who is the CTO of the cybersecurity firm Obsidian Security, was accused of a crime that was not publicly known until court documents related to the case were unsealed post-Trump's pardon. The documents revealed that Wade was charged with computer fraud in 2013. The charge was related to his work at his previous employer, CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that has been in the limelight for its role in investigating the 2016 Democratic National Committee hack.The documents outlined that Wade had allegedly misused his administrative privileges at CrowdStrike to acquire proprietary information from another company. Wade, however, had pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2014.The pardon came as an unexpected move because the usual procedure for a pardon involves a petition to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney, which was not followed in this case. Moreover, the case against Wade was still open and hadn't reached a conclusion at the time of the pardon.The pardon has raised several questions about why Wade was chosen for clemency by Trump. It also brings up the discussion about the power of a presidential pardon and its implications. Presidential pardons have historically been a contentious issue, often criticized for being potentially used as a tool of political influence or favoritism.In conclusion, the pardon of Chris Wade by Donald Trump was a surprising decision given the secrecy of the charges against Wade and the unconventional method in which the pardon was granted. The incident has sparked debates about the power and potential misuse of presidential pardons.