Rapper Lil Wayne is among those expected to receive a pardon or mercy from Donald Trump on his last full day in office on Tuesday.
However, sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters suggested that neither the president himself, nor Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, or former assistant Steve Bannon would be on the list, which could count to 100. family gets prior waiver, reports say.
While the constitutional legitimacy of a presidential apology remains untested, Trump’s assistants warned that forgiveness could imply guilt on himself and members of his family, which could become a liability in future state or civil lawsuits against the Trump family and businesses.
It has also been suggested that a self-forgiving attitude may disregard some Republican senators who will vote during the second Trump trial, which is expected later this month.
Lil Wayne pleaded guilty last month to possession of a loaded, gilded handgun when his chartered plane landed in Miami in December 2019. He is being sentenced to up to ten years in prison during a trial in Miami on January 28.
The rapper appears to have supported Trump during last year’s presidential campaign when he tweeted a photo of himself with the president, saying he supports Trump’s criminal justice reform program and economic plan for African Americans.
The New York Times reports that the list of pardons and revolutions is expected to include former New York Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, 76, who was convicted in 2015 of corruption charges. After a lengthy legal process, Silver was sentenced to six in July 2020. -and-and-a-half years in prison and a $ 1 million fine. He is being held in federal prison in Otisville, New York.
It is also said that Sholam Weiss is being considered for remission. Weiss was sentenced in 2000 to 835 years in prison for crimes, including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. It is often described as the longest sentence imposed in the US for a ‘white-collar crime’.
Bannon, 66, who pleaded not guilty to the charge of defrauding donors for ‘We Build the Wall’, an online fundraising campaign that raised $ 25 million, is not expected to be on the list. Neither does Giuliani.
Giuliani reportedly quarreled with the president over unpaid legal costs, and the lawyer has already refrained from defending Trump in his upcoming Senate prosecution hearing, as Giuliani was also involved in the January 6 protest that a pre- Trump mob preceded US looting.
He infamously told the crowd, “Let’s we hear through a fight,” a remark he has since claimed was a reference to Game of Thrones.
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, another name frequently mentioned in connection with a possible pardon from Trump, would also not appear on the list.
The list of pardons was compiled over the weekend in a series of meetings involving White House lawyer Pat A Cipollone, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
It is traditional for US presidents to issue pardons and forgiveness at the end of their term of office. Barack Obama overturned the sentence of Chelsea Manning in 2017, George W Bush overturned the sentence of former staff member Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was convicted of perjury, and Bill Clinton controversially forgave Marc Rich in a step that criticized as corrupt after Rich’s ex-wife made significant donations to Clinton-related businesses.