In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott is a lot like Cheeto - he wants to pardon criminals for political purposes

From The Texas Tribune -

Gov. Greg Abbott floats pardons for Austin police officers charged with excessive force in 2020 protests

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday blasted the indictment of 19 Austin police officers on assault charges stemming from the May 2020 racial justice protests — and dangled the possibility of potential pardons for them.

“Those officers should be praised for their efforts, not prosecuted,” Abbott said in a statement. “Time will tell whether the accusations against the courageous Austin police officers is a political sham. Time will also tell whether I, as Governor, must take action to exonerate any police officer unjustly prosecuted."

[snip]

The indictments accuse the 19 officers — including Texas House candidate Justin Berry — of using deadly weapons to injure nearly a dozen demonstrators and threatening them with serious bodily harm during the May 2020 protests against police brutality that followed the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Michael Ramos in Austin.

Normally, Arizona politicos are the most craven in the U.S. (Arizona legislature notwithstanding), but Texas looks to be taking that title away from us.

We have Paul Petersen, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, and Mark Finchem (and more!) but they have Abbott, Dan Goeb Patrick, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, and, of course, Louie Gohmert (and more!)

Still, Cheeto may be the best example of using pardons for political/criminal gain - Joe Arpaio, Scooter Libby, Dinesh D'Souza, Michael Milken, Bernie Kerik, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Duncan Hunter, Paul Manafort, Charles Kushner, Steve Bannon, Rick Renzi, Roger Stone, and more - all criminals and all pardoned by Cheeto.

And Cheeto's example is the one that Abbott is following.