Donald Trump has pardoned another 26 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former adviser Roger Stone, in the latest wave of clemency to benefit long time associates and supporters.
The US president also issued a pardon for Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner.
Mr Trump, taking advantage of a right granted by the Constitution only to the president, has granted clemency to nearly 50 people in the last week and more pardons are anticipated as he faces the end of his time in the White House on January 20.
The list from the last two days includes not only multiple people convicted in the Russia investigation but also allies from Congress and other felons whose causes were championed by friends.
The announcement came just after Mr Trump arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, for the holiday season, with Jared Kushner accompanying him on the Air Force One flight.
Pardons are common in the final stretch of a president’s tenure, the recipients largely dependent on the individual whims of the nation’s chief executive.
Mr Trump throughout his administration has shucked aside the conventions of the Obama administration, when pardons were largely reserved for drug offenders not known to the general public, and instead bestowed clemency on high-profile contacts and associates who were key figures in an investigation that directly concerned him.
Even members of the president’s own party raised eyebrows, with Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska issuing a brief statement that said: ‘This is rotten to the core.’
The pardons of Manafort and Stone, who months earlier had his sentence commuted by Trump, were particularly notable, underscoring the president’s desire to chip away at the results and legacy of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
He has now pardoned four people convicted in that investigation, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Andrew Weissmann, who helped prosecute Manafort tweeted: ‘The pardons from this President are what you would expect to get if you gave the pardon power to a mob boss.’
Manafort, who led Trump’s campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being ousted over his ties to Ukraine, was among the first people charged as part of the Mueller investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison for financial crimes related to his political consulting work in Ukraine, but was released to home confinement last spring because of coronavirus concerns in the federal prison system.
Though the charges against Manafort did not concern the central thrust of Mueller’s mandate – whether the Trump campaign and Russia colluded to tip the election – he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation.
His close relationship to a man US officials have linked to Russian intelligence, and with whom he shared internal campaign polling data, attracted particular scrutiny during the investigation, though Mueller never charged Manafort or any other Trump associate with conspiring with Russia.
Manafort, in a series of tweets, thanked Trump and lavished praise on the outgoing president, declaring that history would show he had accomplished more than any of his predecessors.
Both Manafort and Stone were scolded by judges for effectively thumbing their nose at the criminal justice system as their cases were pending.
Manafort was accused of witness tampering even after he was indicted and was accused by prosecutors of lying while trying to earn credit for cooperation.
Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress about his efforts to gain inside information about the release by WikiLeaks of Russia-hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign, was similarly censured because of his social media posts.
In a statement Wednesday, Stone thanked Trump and alleged that he had been subjected to a ‘Soviet-style show trial on politically-motivated charges’.
Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a wealthy real estate executive who pleaded guilty years ago to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Mr Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
Prosecutors allege that after Kushner discovered that his brother-in-law was cooperating with authorities, he hatched a revenge and intimidation scheme.
They say he hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have a secret recording of the encounter in a New Jersey motel room sent to his own sister, the man’s wife.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has called it ‘one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes’ he ever prosecuted as US attorney.
Mr Trump’s legally troubled allies were not the only recipients of clemency.
The list also included people whose pleas for forgiveness have been promoted by people supporting the president throughout his term in office, among them former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Others granted clemency included a former county commissioner in Florida who was convicted of taking gifts from people doing business with the county and a community leader in Kentucky who was convicted of federal drug offenses.
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