Outgoing United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday granted leniency to 20 people, including two convicted of the Russian plot and three former Republican congressmen involved in corruption.
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Trump also granted leniency to four contractors from the private military company Blackwater, which was involved in the murder of 14 civilians in Iraq in 2007. One of them, Nicholas Slatten, was serving a life sentence.
The highest form of forgiveness is George Papadopoulos, who was a foreign affairs adviser to the Trump campaign in 2016 and who pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents as part of the investigation into the Russian plot led by Robert Mueller.
The outgoing president also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to the same charges as Papadopoulos.
Papadopoulos was in prison for 12 days and Van der Zwaan for 30.
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The three former Republican congressmen have been pardoned Duncan Hunter from California, Chris Collins from New York and Steve Stockman from Texas.
Stockman was serving a 10-year sentence for money laundering, Collins was serving a 26-month sentence for securities fraud and Hunter was soon jailed for 11 months for misappropriating campaign funds.
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Days ago, Trump pardoned his former National Security adviser General Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Kremlin.
For days, rumors circulated about a package of Christmas pardons from Trump, who must leave power on January 20.
The pardon is, in fact, an indicator that while Trump has not acknowledged his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in November, he is aware he will have to leave power.
However, none of Trump’s closest associates currently appears among those who have been pardoned, such as his relatives or his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, as was also alleged.
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EFE