Donald Trump forgave his campaign chairman Paul Manafort in 2016 and used his executive power as president in the last weeks to free an ally convicted of financial crimes and illegal lobbying.
Trump also forgave Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser whose sentence he had previously commuted for a conviction for lying to Congress; and Charles Kushner, the real estate developer and father of the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Paul Manafort arrives at the Manhattan Supreme Court in New York on June 27, 2019.
Photographer: Timothy A. Clary / AFP / Getty Images
The White House announced the pardon Wednesday night after Trump arrived at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the vacation.
The leniency was sharply criticized from members of both parties. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska and at times opposed to the president, released a brief statement saying, “This is rotten to the core.”
The night before, the president announced pardons for many other people, including two men convicted as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and two former Republican congressmen convicted of a series of financial crimes.
Manafort, an international political adviser and a member of the Republican Party, was serving a 7 1/2 year term when he was released in May due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He was convicted in August 2018 of lying to tax authorities about tens of millions of dollars he made as a political advisor in Ukraine and misleading banks about his financial health in order to obtain loans.
His conviction also came about as part of Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election.
Why presidential pardon is normal is less of Trump’s: QuickTake
Manafort later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally lobby for Ukraine, to money laundering in support of a lavish lifestyle, and tampering with witnesses.
Trump had previously opposed offering a pardon to Manafort, likely in part because it involved political risk. His decision to move forward now seemed at least a tacit admission that his presidency is coming to an end, despite claiming without evidence that he had been robbed of a victory by widespread electoral fraud.
Shortly after Manafort’s conviction, Trump told reporters that he believed Manafort was a ‘good man’ and said he felt “Very sad” about the conviction – even though the crimes did not involve the president. Trump then suggested that Manafort was falsely targeted by federal investigators.
“It’s a witch hunt and it’s a shame,” Trump said.
Manafort was also sued in New York for lying about mortgage applications for properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
But in October, an appeals court there upheld an earlier dismissal of the charges, finding state law did not allow the same charges as Manafort to be prosecuted at the federal level. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. appealed against that decision.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, said Trump’s pardon “underscores the urgent need to hold Mr. Manafort accountable for his crimes against the people of New York, as claimed in our indictment, and we will continue to pursue our appeals.”
Previously: Trump pardoned former campaign advisor, two former GOP lawmakers
The elder Kushner was jailed after being convicted of charges including making false tax returns and witness statements. He was prosecuted by Chris Christie, an American attorney in New Jersey at the time, who later became the governor of the state and eventually Trump’s adviser.
Moments after the pardon was announced, Stone’s attorney Grant Smith said his client “is humbled that President Trump has used his constitutional power to allow Mr. and Mrs. Stone to leave this behind and get on with their lives.”
On Tuesday, Trump announced pardons from former campaign manager George Papadopoulos, who had been convicted of lying to the FBI, and Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who was also convicted of making false statements during the Russia investigation. He also pardoned four men who worked as security guards for Blackwater and who had been convicted in connection with the murder of Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Former congressmen who have pardoned include Duncan Hunter, the California lawmaker who pleaded guilty to the misuse of campaign funds, and Chris Collins, a New York representative who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The president also commuted the remaining jail term of Steve Stockman, a former Texas congressman convicted of charity fund abuse.
On Wednesday, Trump forgave another former congressman, Mark Siljander, a Republican who represented a Michigan district until 1987. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent.
Earlier this month, Trump forgave Michael Flynn, his first national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents, and commuted the sentence on Stone, who had served more than three years in prison for tampering with witnesses and lying to Congress. .
House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, criticized the pardon on Twitter.
And Representative Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who led Trump’s impeachment investigation, accused him of corrupting presidential powers of leniency.
“Trump pardons, not on the basis of remorse, restitution, or the interests of justice,” Schiff said in a statement, “but to reward his friends and political allies, to protect those who lie to hide him, to to hide those who have been guilty of killing civilians, and to undermine an investigation that uncovered massive misconduct. “
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a legal advocacy group, said: “Trump has made it clear that he believes the purpose of the pardon is to save wealthy white men associated with him. Trump has turned an instrument of mercy and justice into just another way of being corrupt. “
– With help from Justin Blum, David Voreacos and Billy House
(Updates with response, starting in fourth paragraph.)