WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has pardoned more than two dozen people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, in the latest wave of leniency in favor of longtime associates and supporters.
The actions, in Trump’s waning days in the White House, bring the number of people to nearly 50 pardoned by the president in the past week. The list from the past two days includes not only several people convicted in the investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, but also Congressional allies and other criminals whose cases have been defended by friends.
Pardon often occurs in the final stages of a president’s tenure, with recipients largely dependent on the individual whims of the country’s chief executive. Trump has set aside the conventions of the Obama administration throughout his administration, when pardon was largely reserved for drug offenders unknown to the general public, instead granting leniency to high profile contacts and associates who were key figures in an investigation that directly related to him.
Even members of the president’s own party raised eyebrows as Republican Senator Ben Sasse from Nebraska made a brief statement saying, “This is rotten to the core.”
Wednesday’s pardon of Manafort and Roger Stone, who had his sentence commuted by Trump months earlier, were particularly notable, underscoring the president’s desire to get rid of the results and legacy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. 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.
“This president’s pardon is what you would expect if you gave the pardon authority to a mob boss,” tweeted Andrew Weissmann, a Mueller team member who helped prosecute Manafort.
Manafort, who led Trump’s campaign during a pivotal period in 2016 before being impeached for his ties to Ukraine, was one of the first to be charged as part of Mueller’s 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 advisory work in Ukraine, but was released last spring over concerns about the coronavirus in the federal prison system.
While the charges against Manafort did not address the central thrust of Mueller’s mandate – or whether the Trump campaign and Russia conspired to tip the election – he was nonetheless a pivotal figure in the investigation.
His close relationship with a man who US officials have linked to Russian intelligence, and with whom he shared internal campaign data, received particular attention during the investigation, although Mueller never accused Manafort or any other Trump employee of conspiring with Russia. .
Manafort thanked Trump in a series of tweets and lavishly praised the outgoing president, stating that history would show he had accomplished more than any of his predecessors.
Trump forgave Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, who was sentenced to 45 days in prison last year after extensive collaboration with prosecutors, not pardoned, or former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance crimes in connection with his attempts to silence from women who said they had sexual relations with Trump. Both were also convicted in the Mueller probe.
New York City prosecutors, meanwhile, have tried to revive the state’s highest court of mortgage fraud against Manafort after a lower court dismissed them on the grounds of double perils. 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 are hardly conventional pardon recipients, in part because both were berated by judges for effectively poking their noses at the criminal justice system while their cases were pending. Manafort was charged with tampering with witnesses even after being charged and charged by prosecutors with lying while trying to earn credit for his cooperation.
Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress about his attempts to obtain inside information about WikiLeaks’ release of Russia-hacked Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign, was similarly censored by a judge for his social media posts. .
In a statement Wednesday, Stone thanked Trump, claiming he had been subject 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 director who years ago pleaded guilty to tax evasion and illegal campaign donations. Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles, and their children were married in 2009.
Prosecutors allege that after Kushner found out that his brother-in-law was cooperating with authorities, he devised a plan of revenge and intimidation. They say he hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law and then arranged for a secret recording of the meeting in a New Jersey motel room to be sent to his own sister, the man’s wife.
Former New Jersey government Chris Christie has called it “one of the most disgusting, disgusting crimes” he has ever prosecuted as a US attorney.
Trump’s legally troubled allies were not the only recipients of leniency. The list of 29 recipients included people whose pleas for forgiveness were promoted by those who supported the president during his tenure, including former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.
One recipient was Topeka Sam, whose case was promoted by Alice Johnson, a criminal justice attorney who pardoned Trump and who appeared in a Super Bowl ad for him and at the Republican National Convention.
“Mrs. Sam’s life is a story of redemption,” the White House said in its release, praising her for helping other women in need.
Others granted leniency included a former Florida district commissioner convicted of accepting gifts from people doing business with the district and a Kentucky community leader convicted of federal drug offenses.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Palm Beach, Florida, and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.