A behind-the-scenes look at my presidential pardon

By Dinesh D'Souza. Originally posted on FoxNews.com.

On Wednesday I was working in my office when the phone rang and the operator announced: "Please hold for the president of the United States." I resisted the impulse to make a joke: "I'm in the middle of something. Can you let him know I'll call him right back?"

President Trump came on, and told me he was sitting in the Oval Office with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

"You know John, don't you?" the president said. I sheepishly said I didn't, but of course I knew who he was. President Trump said I was a great voice for freedom and for America. Then he added: "Dinesh, I got to tell you, man to man, that you got screwed."

President Trump said I did something that would normally get a slap on the wrist and a fine, but instead the previous administration went after me with the full force of its powers.

President Trump termed my case as an injustice, one that he was in a position to correct. And then came the words that I had to repeat to myself to fully grasp their significance. "I've decided to give you a full pardon."

The president said this would clear my record "and now you can be an even bigger champion of freedom than before."

I could do little more than mutter my grateful astonishment.

Later, the president told the media that he thought I was having a heart attack. Actually, I was just tongue-tied with joy. And the conversation ended with President Trump saying he would make his decision public the following morning, not with a news release but with a tweet.

For me, the pardon was the exhilarating conclusion to a five-year ordeal.

KEEP READING MY OP-ED