Mark Bashaw, a former lieutenant in the U.S. Army, finally has a measure of justice after he was criminally convicted and discharged for refusing to abide by COVID-related protocols implemented under President Joe Biden.
In August 2021, then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin imposed a COVID vaccine mandate for members of the military, claiming the shots were critical for maintaining healthy, ready armed forces. Those like Bashaw who refused were required either to work from home or to subject themselves to COVID testing before going into the office, where they would have to wear a mask.
Bashaw — the company commander of the Army Public Health Center in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland — refused to abide by those directives. As a result, he was convicted by a court martial in 2022 of failing to obey lawful orders.
In a 2023 social media post, he claimed he had been court-martialed because he “refused to participate with lies.” Following his conviction, he was involuntarily discharged.
Some 8,000 service members were similarly discharged from the military for refusing the shot. However, Bashaw is believed to have been the first to be court-martialed for failing to adhere to the COVID protocols issued by Austin, The Hill reported.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued Bashaw a full and unconditional pardon.
Bashaw’s conviction did not result in any jail sentence, but it did give him a criminal record. Trump’s pardon wipes his record clean.
Bashaw celebrated the news of his pardon on social media: “I just received a Presidential Pardon from President Donald J. Trump. I am humbled, grateful, and ready to continue fighting for truth and justice in this great nation. Thank you, Mr. President @realDonaldTrump and to your incredible team.”
After thanking others, including former U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin, Bashaw’s post added: “Time for accountability!” It also included an image that described COVID as a “plandemic.”
Blaze News senior editor Daniel Horowitz applauded Bashaw’s courage despite his “unfathomable” suffering “under the Biden-controlled DOD.”
“It’s easy to be a hero now that COVID tyranny has been universally repudiated and it no longer costs anything to take a stand. Yet, Bashaw risked his entire career and even time in the brig for standing up for the rule of law and the medical ethics of public health,” Horowitz told Blaze News.
Horowitz also thanked Trump for making good use of his pardon powers: “Well played, Mr. President.”
BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who has long railed against the COVID shots, was likewise pleased to hear that Trump intervened in Bashaw’s case.
“This is another commendable act of penance by President Trump for the mistakes of his first administration during the scamdemic, which set the stage for the outright tyranny imposed by whoever was making decisions for Biden the last four years. His language at times certainly has its bravado, but President Trump is really showing great humility in unraveling the original COVID narrative his first term succumbed to,” Deace said in a statement to Blaze News.
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