WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump forgave his former chief strategist Steve Bannon in a wave of pardon in the closing hours of his tenure that benefited more than 140 people, including rappers, former members of Congress and other allies. yours as your family.
The last-minute injunction, announced early this morning, follows other waves of pardon granted last month to Trump employees convicted in the FBI investigation into Russia, as well as his son-in-law’s father. Taken together, these actions underscore the president’s willingness, during his four years in the White House, to use his constitutional powers in a way that defies convention and explicitly helps his friends and supporters.
The most recent list is full of more conventional candidates for such measures, whose cases have been defended by activists. A man who spent nearly 24 years in prison for drug and weapon charges but exhibited exemplary behavior was commuted, as was an ex-marine who was convicted in 2000 with a cocaine conviction.
But the names of Trump’s allies stood out in the crowd.
Alongside Bannon, Trump family allies included Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a plot to pressure the White House to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian investment fund. , and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was accused of cyberbullying in a heated divorce in October.
Bannon’s case is especially notable because the prosecution against him is still in its early stages and there were months to go before a trial was due. The recipients of a presidential pardon are normally considered people who have been on trial and spent at least some time in prison. Whoever was assigned to his former chief of strategy cancels the trial and de facto eliminates any possible punishment.
“Steve Bannon is pardoned by Trump after defrauding Trump’s own supporters into paying for a wall Trump promised Mexico would pay for,” said the Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff on Twitter. “And if this all sounds crazy, it’s because It is. Fortunately we only have 12 hours left from this den of thieves.”
While other Presidents have granted controversial pardons at the end of their tenure, perhaps no other Commander-in-Chief has enjoyed using his leniency power to benefit not only friends or acquaintances but also celebrities and others sponsored by his allies .
Today’s list includes a number of high-profile defendants, including rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida of gun possession. Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, has regularly expressed his support for the president and recently met with him to address criminal issues. Michael Harris, co-founder of Death Row Records and New York art dealer and collector Hillel Nahmad, was also pardoned.
The same fate befell Rick Renzi, a former Arizona Republican congressman who spent three years in prison for corruption, money laundering, and other charges; and Duke Cunningham, a former California representative convicted of accepting $ 2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Cunningham, who was released from prison in 2013, received conditional leniency.
Trump also commuted the jail sentence of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who spent nearly seven years behind bars for extortion and bribery.
Bannon was accused of misleading thousands of investors who believed their money would be used to fulfill Trump’s election promise to build a wall along the border with Mexico. However, he is said to have diverted more than a million dollars to pay for a campaign official’s salary and his own personal expenses.
Bannon did not respond to questions yesterday.
Trump has already pardoned many associates and supporters, including his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort; Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father; his old friend and adviser Roger Stone, and his former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.