eight hours before he left office, Trump issued a pardon for Bannon. Political career Early political involvement Kobach won a seat on the Overland Park City Council, in April 1999. Following the September 11 attacks, Kobach helped construct a program that mandated that men from 24 predominantly Muslim countries and North Korea be fingerprinted, photographed and questioned at government offices. Of the 83,000 plus men who did so, the government moved to deport 13,740 of them for immigration violations. Kobach ran for Kansas State Senate in 2000, finishing third out of four Republican primary candidates. In the 2004 election cycle, Kobach was the Republican nominee for Congress in the 3rd District, narrowly besting primary opponent and 2002 party nominee Adam Taff by 207 votes, with state representative Patricia Lightner far behind. He lost to incumbent Dennis Moore, 55%–43%. The victory was the largest of Moore's congressional campaigns. The campaign thrust Kobach onto the national stage, mostly due to his stance on illegal immigration. Kobach advocated for the imposition of a national consumption (sales) tax. He was given a speaking role on the opening day of the 2004 Republican National Convention and used his slot to call for the U.S. military to be sent to the Mexican border to block illegal immigration. Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party On January 28, 2007, Kobach was elected Chairman of the Kansas Republican Party (GOP), serving until January 2009. Kobach's chairmanship was noted for the broad changes he introduced to election efforts. As Chairman, he raised money for targeted statewide and legislative races and instituted a direct-role policy for the state party in those races. He also pushed the State Committee to create a "loyalty committee", which was charged with sanctioning Republicans who assisted Democratic candidates in contested races. This led to several party officers being stripped of voting rights in party matters as punishment for giving campaign contributions to Democratic Candidates. After Kobach left office, a Federal Elections Commission (FEC) audit strongly criticized Kobach's financial management of the Kansas GOP. The FEC audit found that when Kobach served as chairman, the state party failed to pay state and federal taxes. It was also discovered that illegal contributions were accepted. In December 2007, Kobach sent an email saying, "[T]o date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years." Kansas Secretary of State On