On his way out the door, President Trump pardoned 73 people, including his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, and overturned the sentences of 70 others. The White House announced early Wednesday, the last day of Mr. Trump, announced the spate of pardons and commuting.
No members of the president’s family – including Mr. Trump himself – was not on the list. During the waning days of his term, there was considerable speculation as to whether he would give himself, any of his children or son-in-law, Jared Kushner, presumptuous remission.
Also missing from the list – Rudy Giuliani – Trump’s personal lawyer, who led legal efforts to prove false allegations that Trump won the presidential election over Joe Biden.
Former GOP top fundraiser Elliott Broidy and rapper Lil Wayne have been pardoned, among others.
Bannon was charged in August because they allegedly defrauded donors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with a fundraising campaign to build a wall along the southern border, known as the “We Build the Wall” campaign. The scheme raised $ 25 million, and Bannon was accused of taking $ 1 million to cover personal expenses and paying another person accused of the scheme.
ANDREW KELLY / REUTERS
In announcing his pardon, the White House said Bannon “was an important leader in the Conservative movement and is known for his political insight.”
But Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, took to Twitter to say, “Steve Bannon gets an apology from Trump after he tricked Trump’s own supporters into paying for a wall. what Trump promised Mexico. would pay. And if it all sounds crazy, it’s because it is. Thank God, we only have 12 hours left of these thieves. ‘
Broidy, the former deputy financial chairman of the RNC, is charged in October with his alleged role in a secret scheme to sue the Department of Justice and Trump administration on behalf of unknown foreign entities. Broidy resigned in 2018 as the best fundraiser of the GOP after admitting to paying off a Playboy Playmate.
Mr. Trump also pardoned rapper Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., also known as Lil Wayne. Carter pleaded guilty in December to a federal gun charge.
The president overturned the sentence of Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit, who served about 7 years of a 28-year sentence for racketeering and bribery. “This commutation is strongly supported by leading members of the Detroit community, Alveda King, Alice Johnson, Diamond and Silk, Pastor Paula White, Peter Karmanos, Sherry Gay-Dagnogo of the Michigan House of Representatives, Karen Whitsett of the House of Representatives. “Michigan House representatives, and more than thirty faith leaders,” the White House said.
Kilpatrick, once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party, received one of the longest sentences for corruption ever given to a great American politician.
New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement expressing Trump’s actions, saying in part: ‘The 143 pardons and commutations issued in the twilight hours of the Trump administration sum up perfectly what this is about. lame president has always gone: favoring those who show absolute loyalty to Donald Trump. ‘
Before the late blitz, Mr. Trump, according to the Justice Department report, granted 70 pardons, the majority of which were in December.
He waited until after the November election to issue some of his most controversial pardons, including for former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner’s convicted father, Charles Kushner, and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone.
By the time President Obama left office, he had pardoned 212 people; 189 was pardoned by President George W. Bush; and 396, according to the Department of Justice, received a pardon from President Clinton.
Mr. Trump is not the first president to issue a highly controversial pardon. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, and Mr. Clinton has graced friends and supporters.
The president’s pardon power is virtually unlimited when it comes to federal crimes. The presidential pardon power allows the president to forgive anyone who is charged or convicted of a federal crime. Article II of the Constitution provides that the President “shall have the power to grant remission and remission for offenses against the United States, except in cases of indictment.”