WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump pardoned more than two dozen people, including former campaign president Paul Manafort and his father-in-law Charles Kushner, in the latest wave of clemency for the benefit of partners and supporters long-standing.
The actions, at Trump’s dwindling moment in the White House, bring to about 50 the number of people the president has granted clemency to in the past week. The list for the past two days includes not only several people convicted of the investigation into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia, but also allies in Congress and other criminals whose causes were defended by friends.
Forgiveness is common in the final stretch of the president’s term, the recipients depend largely on the individual whims of the nation’s chief executive. Trump throughout his administration has set aside the Obama administration’s conventions, when pardons were largely reserved for drug offenders that the general public was unaware of, and instead gave clemency to contacts and associates of great profile who were key figures in an investigation that directly concerned him.
Even members of the president’s own party raised their eyebrows, and Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska issued a brief statement saying, “This is rotten to the bottom.”
Wednesday’s pardons by Manafort and Roger Stone, who months ago changed his sentence for Trump, were particularly notable, underscoring the president’s desire to break the results and the legacy of the lawyer’s Russia investigation. special Robert Mueller. He has now pardoned four convicted people in this investigation, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
“This president’s pardons are what would be expected to be obtained if they gave the power of pardon to a mob boss,” tweeted Andrew Weissmann, a member of Mueller’s team that helped prosecute Manafort.
Manafort, who led the Trump campaign for a crucial period in 2016 before being ousted for his ties to Ukraine, was one of the first defendants in Mueller’s investigation into the links 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 last spring was released to confinement due to coronavirus problems in the federal prison system.
Although the charges against Manafort did not relate to the central axis of Mueller’s tenure (whether the Trump campaign and Russia collaborated to tip the election), he was nonetheless a key figure in the investigation.
His close relationship with a man U.S. officials has been linked to Russian intelligence and with whom he shared data from internal campaign surveys, attracted special scrutiny during the investigation, although Mueller never accused Manafort or any other Trump member to conspire with Russia.
Manafort, in a series of tweets, thanked Trump and praised the outgoing president, stating that history would show that he had achieved more than any of his predecessors.
Trump did not pardon Manafort MP Rick Gates, who was sentenced last year to 45 days in prison after cooperating extensively with prosecutors, nor Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to funding crime campaigns related to their efforts to buy the silence of women who said they had sex with Trump. Both were convicted in the Mueller poll.
New York City prosecutors, meanwhile, have tried to get the state’s highest court to revive the state mortgage fraud charges against Manafort after a lower court dismissed them on grounds of double danger. A spokesman for District Attorney Cy Vance said the pardon “underscores the urgent need to hold Mr. Manafort accountable for his crimes against the people of New York.”
Manafort and Stone barely receive conventional pardon, in part because they were both scolded by the judges because they effectively pulled their noses against the criminal justice system as their cases were pending. Manafort was charged with manipulating witnesses even after he was charged and charged by prosecutors with lying while trying to get credit for his cooperation.
Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress about his efforts to obtain inside information about the release of Democratic emails hacked by Russia during the 2016 campaign, was similarly censored by a judge because of his publications. on social media.
In a statement Wednesday, Stone thanked Trump and alleged that he had been subjected to a “Soviet-style trial on politically motivated charges.”
Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a wealthy real estate executive who years ago pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Trump and the great Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
Prosecutors allege that after Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with authorities, a plan of revenge and intimidation erupted. He is said to have hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, and then arranged a secret recording of the encounter in a New Jersey motel room sent to his own sister, the man’s wife.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has called it “one of the most heinous and disgusting crimes” he prosecuted as a U.S. attorney.
Trump’s legally troubled allies were not the only recipients of the clemency. The list of 29 recipients included people who have promoted apologies from people who supported the president throughout his tenure, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
One of the recipients was Topeka Sam, whose case was promoted by Alice Johnson, a criminal justice advocate whom Trump pardoned and who appeared in a Super Bowl ad for him and the Republican National Convention.
“Ma’am. Sam’s life is a story of redemption,” the White House said in its statement, praising her for helping other women in need.
Others who obtained clemency included a former Florida county commissioner who was convicted of receiving gifts from people doing business with the county and a Kentucky community leader who was convicted of federal drug offenses.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Palm Beach, Florida, and Michael Balsamo, Washington, contributed to the report.