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Drug Smuggler Pardoned by Trump Busted for Parole Violations, Attacked Nurse with IV Pole

Trump-pardoned drug trafficker Jonathan Braun found guilty of parole violations, including attacking a nurse with an IV pole.

By Frank Yemi
Jonathan Braun, a convicted Long Island drug trafficker whose prison term was cut short by Donald Trump in January 2021, just flunked his second chance in spectacular fashion. A federal judge ruled that Braun violated the terms of his supervised release on multiple counts, finding prosecutors met the “preponderance of evidence” bar after a series of spring and summer incidents that spiraled from road-rage toll dodging to an alleged hospital freakout with an IV pole. The ruling lands Braun, 41, back in a world he knows all too well: a federal lockup. He now faces up to five years in prison, with sentencing set for October 9. Braun had served roughly a year of a 10-year sentence for his role in a massive cross-border marijuana operation before Trump commuted his time, leaving intact a $100,000 fine and years of supervision. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto sifted through nine alleged violations and concluded six were proven: two counts of menacing, forcible touching, sexual abuse, petit larceny, and failure to pay his court-ordered fine. Three other accusations tied to a tense Sabbath dinner at Braun’s home, assault, and child endangerment didn’t meet the standard. Revocation hearings use a lower evidentiary threshold than criminal trials, and Matsumoto laid out the framework clearly in her order. The most explosive episode came inside a Long Island emergency department in January. An assistant nurse manager testified that Braun, agitated and yelling, swung a metal IV pole toward her while repeatedly shouting he would “kill” her. The court deemed the IV pole a “dangerous instrument,” credited the nurse’s account, and found he intentionally placed her in fear of injury. Translation: menacing in the second degree, proven. Two months later, inside a synagogue, a congregant asked Braun to quiet down. Things escalated fast. Braun got in the man’s face, asked “Do you know who I am?” and “Do you know what I could have done to you?”, referenced the “Angel of Death” in Hebrew, then grabbed the man’s arm hard enough to cause pain. The judge found that amounted to menacing in the third degree. Another set of violations centers on the family’s live-in nanny. According to the court, Braun forcibly groped her, with testimony describing an attack that ended only when she locked herself in a bathroom and called for help. The judge credited her account and found both forcible touching and sexual abuse established. Then there’s the low-stakes crime spree that wasn’t so low-stakes: toll evasion. Prosecutors said Braun repeatedly blasted across a Long Island bridge in high-end rides — a Lamborghini and a Ferrari — without plates and without paying, racking up unpaid fees. Reports counted dozens of instances, and the court deemed it petit larceny tied to the serial toll jumps. Braun’s money picture drew scrutiny too. The court noted he reported employment but didn’t verify income, said his family “takes care” of him, and still failed to make payments toward his six-figure fine — a supervision requirement Matsumoto found he violated. The failure-to-pay finding stacked atop the other confirmed violations. Not everything stuck. The judge tossed allegations from a March gathering at Braun’s home, including claims he punched a guest and endangered a child, saying the government hadn’t met even the lower burden for revocation. But that reprieve was outweighed by the proven threats, the nurse incident, the synagogue confrontation, the nanny’s assault claims, and the bridge antics.

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