Copyright The New York Times
President Trump quietly pardoned the husband of Representative Diana Harshbarger, Republican of Tennessee, last week amid a string of clemency grants to allies. In 2013, Robert Harshbarger Jr., a licensed pharmacist at the time, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and distributing a misbranded drug, in this case kidney medications, some of which came from China, that were not approved for the purpose by the Food and Drug Administration. Ms. Harshbarger, also a pharmacist, was a corporate officer and agent for American Inhalation Medication Specialists, the company through which her husband sold the drugs, according to corporate records, which show that the company was dissolved in 2018. But during her first successful congressional campaign in 2020, she denied to local media that she had any involvement with the company, after attack ads sought to link her to her husband’s conviction. Ms. Harshbarger’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. A White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that Mr. Harshbarger was not pardoned because of his last name or other affiliations. The official did not respond when asked if Ms. Hashbarger lobbied for the pardon.
