D’Souza, who served as policy analyst in the Reagan administration, is a prolific conservative commentator and author. He is known for such works as The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left where he makes the academically fallacious claim that Nazism was leftist and that modern American liberals draw their ideology from Nazism. He has also created conservative documentaries, such as the critically panned film 2016: Obama’s America.

D’Souza’s past commentary includes defending conditions at prison Abu Ghraib, in which multiple Iraqi prisoners were tortured, claiming it to be comparable to typical Middle Eastern hotels. He was condemned by liberal and conservative commentators alike for mocking the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

In 2014, he pleaded guilty to making $20,000 in illegal contributions to the New York Senate campaign of Wendy Long, who ultimately lost to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Trump pardoned him of the crime in 2018.

The New York Times – A Look at Dinesh D’Souza, Pardoned by Trump
The Atlantic – Dinesh D’Souza and the Decline of Conservatism: Under President Trump, the most outrageous and aggrieved polemicists are thriving.
USA Today – Trump pardons Dinesh D’Souza — and might do the same for Rod Blagojevich and Martha Stewart
Wikipedia – Dinesh D’Souza