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Inset: Photo of Jonathan Braun, courtesy of the Nassau County Police Department. Background: President Donald Trump is seen responding to a reporter’s inquiry prior to signing an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Monday, March 31, 2025 (Pool via AP).
A man from New York whose drug-related prison term was shortened by President Donald Trump in 2021 has been taken into custody after allegedly assaulting a man and his 3-year-old son during a Sabbath dinner, according to New York state authorities.
Jonathan Braun, aged 41, faces charges including second-degree assault, third-degree assault, and jeopardizing the safety of a child, per Nassau County District Court documents.
The misdemeanor charges mark the fourth time the defendant has been arrested since he was freed on the last day of Trump’s first term.
Braun currently faces a combined seven counts against him.
The latest incident occurred on March 29, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Long Island-based daily newspaper Newsday.
Prosecutors allege Braun was hosting a Sabbath dinner at his home that evening in Lawrence, a small village located just a few miles southeast of JFK International Airport. But, sometime over the course of the meal, the defendant allegedly lost his temper with one guest and the guest’s two sons, police say.
Braun ultimately punched the man in the face, according to the Nassau County Police Department. Then, the defendant allegedly pushed the man to the ground – causing him to cut his elbow.
The recipient of Trump’s federal grace was allegedly not done, however, and shoved the guest’s 3-year-old as well, police say.
The shoved toddler fell to the ground, “causing a red mark on his back and substantial pain to his back,” according to the complaint.
After his arrest that night, Braun was arraigned on Sunday where he pleaded not guilty, court records show. The judge overseeing the matter issued a temporary order of protection and the defendant’s bail was set at $25,000. He was released on Monday.
Court records identify the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County as Braun’s counsel of record, but that information may be out of date. In his earlier post-prison run-ins with the law, the defendant has been represented by Manhattan-based attorney Robert Caliendo. And Caliendo is reportedly representing Braun in the latest case as well, according to Newsday and The New York Times. Law&Crime reached out to Caliendo for comment on this story but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.
In August 2024, Braun was arrested for allegedly attacking both his wife and her septuagenarian father. Authorities alleged both victims were, at some point, punched in the head or face — or both.
On July 17, 2024, Braun allegedly threw his wife off a bed and onto the floor “causing her substantial pain and bruising her legs,” the complaint says, citing the woman as the complaining party. On Aug. 12, 2024, the defendant again allegedly threw his wife to the floor and then punched her in the head, she allegedly told police, “causing her substantial pain” dizziness, and “bruising,” according to the complaint.
Most of the charges from that arrest were later dropped; the lone remaining charge is one count of petit larceny.
On Feb. 15, Braun was arrested again – this time for one count of allegedly forcibly touching another person’s intimate parts. This incident reportedly involved the defendant grabbing a nanny’s breast while touching himself on her bed at around 6:30 in the morning, according to court records cited by Newsday and the Times.
On March 22, Braun was arrested for the third time – on charges of menacing in the second- and third-degree. This arrest allegedly stemmed from a January hospital visit where an argument with a nurse led the defendant to swing an IV pole at her, according to Newsday and the Times.
Both newspapers also report Braun threatened a fellow congregant at a synagogue in Lawrence after being asked to quiet down.
“Do you know who I am or what I can do to you?” the man said Braun threatened him. “I’m going to f— you up.”
In 2010, Braun was indicted by federal prosecutors for being one mastermind of a drug-smuggling operation that managed to secret one ton of marijuana from Canada into New York by way of an Indian reservation – while he lived at home with his parents on Staten Island.
That federal case moved almost punishingly slow.
After pleading guilty, Braun was sentenced to 10 years plus three years to be served concurrently — meaning, at the same time. And, while he served over five months in pretrial detention, he only reported to federal prison in early January 2020 — following a lengthy series of last-ditch efforts to vacate his sentence.
In January 2021, Trump issued a final wave of 143 pardons and commutations — many of which were highly scrutinized. Braun’s commutation was no exception. In the aftermath, the Times, CNN, and the Staten Island Advance ran stories about the international drug smuggler with a “history of violence and threatening people” who was already facing additional criminal allegations at the time.
After his release, Braun was also subject to a regulatory enforcement action resulting in a fine of $20 million for predatory lending practices in a civil case brought by the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC lawsuit was joined by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Authorities in that case essentially accused Braun of acting as an enforcer for Richmond Companies — which charged astronomical interest rates on loans to small businesses.
“You have no idea what I’m going to do,” Braun allegedly told one debtor and small business owner. “I will take your daughters from you.”
In one instance, he allegedly told a rabbi he would beat and “publicly embarrass him” and said: “I am going to make you bleed.”
Braun attempted to return to the loan industry after getting out prison – but was later barred from practicing in the field by both a New York state judge and a federal judge.
Now, the federal judge overseeing his supervised release – who has already registered a certain level of circumspection over the defendant’s post-lockup behavior – could force Braun to spend significant time back behind bars.
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