Trump prepares to offer clemency to more than 100 people in his final hours in office
Category: News & Politics
Via: sister-mary-agnes-ample-bottom • 3 years ago • 23 commentsBy: Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey, Rosalind Helderman (MSN)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump prepares to offer clemency to more than 100 people in his final hours in office
President Trump is preparing to pardon or commute the sentences of more than 100 people in his final hours in office, decisions that are expected to be announced Monday or Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the plans.
Trump met Sunday with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and other aides for a significant amount of the day to review a long list of pardon requests and discuss lingering questions about their appeals, according to the multiple people briefed on the meeting. The president was personally engaged with the details of specific cases, one person said.
In the past week, Trump has been particularly consumed with the question of whether to issue preemptive pardons to his adult children, top aides and himself, said the people familiar with discussions.
But it remains unclear whether he will make such a move. Although he has mused about the possibility, no final decisions have been reached, and some advisers have warned against using his pardon power to benefit himself.
Neither Trump nor his children have been charged with crimes, and they are not known to be under federal investigation.
But the question of a presidential self-pardon has become more urgent and controversial since the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by the president's supporters. Some aides think Trump could face criminal liability for inciting the crowd.
Others think a self-pardon, never before attempted by a president, would be of dubious constitutionality but could anger Senate Republicans preparing to serve as key jurors at Trump's impeachment trial, and would amount to an admission of guilt that could be used against Trump in potential civil litigation related to the Capitol attack.
White House spokesman Judd Deere declined to comment, saying his office does not discuss pardons.
People familiar with the discussions said that many of the pardons and commutations Trump is expected to issue in his final days will be uncontroversial.
But it remains unknown whether he will grant clemency to Stephen K. Bannon, his former campaign adviser, who was charged last year with defrauding donors to a private fundraising effort for construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, or his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose consulting business has come under scrutiny as part of an investigation that led to charges against two of his associates.
The news of Trump's intention to make a slew of final pardons and commutations in the coming days was first reported by CNN.
The president has been besieged by lobbyists and lawyers for well-heeled clients who are seeking to have their criminal convictions wiped from their records, as well as by advocates for criminal justice reform, who argue that their clients were wrongly convicted or were given unfair sentences and deserve to be freed from prison.
Trump has told advisers for weeks that he wants to be liberal with pardons before leaving office. Aides have said the ability to grant clemency is a perk of the job Trump has particularly relished because the Constitution hands the power to the president alone.
But the president's review of pardon candidates had been delayed by the intensifying dysfunction inside the White House since the November election and Trump's intense focus on trying to challenge and the undermine the results, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Some candidates were told last week by the White House Counsel's Office that no pardons could be granted that were not finalized by Friday. Then word of the president's last-minute weekend review and preliminary decisions to grant numerous pardons and commutations began to trickle out.
So far, Trump has granted clemency to 94 people, including 49 he issued in the week before Christmas — mostly to friends and political allies.
They have included people who had been convicted in the special counsel investigation that dominated his first two years in office, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime confidant Roger Stone. Just before Thanksgiving, he pardoned Michael T. Flynn, who had briefly served as Trump's first national security adviser and was later accused of lying to the FBI during its investigation of Russian interference in Trump's 2016 election win.
Other Trump pardons issued in the closing weeks of his time in office have gone to Charles Kushner — the father of his son-in-law — as well as three Republican former members of Congress and four military contractors involved in the killing of unarmed civilians during the Iraq War.
About 14,000 people have filed petitions for pardons and commutations. For years, criminal justice advocates have criticized Republican and Democratic administrations alike for backlogs that left thousands of rehabilitated people seeking mercy to languish in prison.
Trump has moved especially slowly in acting on pending petitions. Rather than consult with the Justice Department's pardon attorney for recommendations, he has routinely gone around the formal process and sought advice about pardons from a circle of friends, lobbyists and lawmakers.
Many of those to whom he has shown presidential mercy have not even filed applications with the Justice Department and violate rules the department normally imposes as preconditions for clemency, which include that people generally first acknowledge their crimes and show remorse.
Even when Trump has granted clemency to people who are not themselves politically connected, they have often come to his attention via a handful of his favored voices in the field of criminal justice reform.
For instance, a number of ordinary people granted clemency have been recommended to the president by Alice Johnson, whose own prison sentence after a drug conviction was commuted by Trump in 2018 following lobbying by the celebrity Kim Kardashian. Johnson later received a full pardon after speaking at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Noon Wednesday can't get here soon enough.
the future social stigma of a trump pardon will be interesting to witness as it plays out.
I can smell the quid pro quos from here. Too bad there isn't a way to prove it.
You never know. After all, Trump is the 'genius' that signed a payoff check in the Oval office...
SALE ENDS 11 A.M. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 20 2021
That's funny. I hate that it's funny, but it's funny.
He was going to pardon Charles Manson , Jim Jones, and the Lindbergh baby kidnapper until someone told him they were dead.
How about Julian Assange?
Why do you think the UK denied extradition requests for him? As it is, Trump can pardon Assange all he wants, does not get him out of UK jail.
I believe the only reason he's in a UK jail is because of the extradition claim by the USA. The exact same thing is happening to the CFO of Huawei being under house arrest in Canada because of the US extradition claim against her. She committed no crime in Canada that would call for detention.
Are you serious?
seriously making fun of him
Ha!!!!!
For what it's worth, Reuters has a story saying Trump is (so far) not planning on pardoning himself or his family members .
Yet another lie.
Maybe not... Rumor only, but it was suggested that his 'legal team' (or what's left of them) advised against him pardoning himself because it implies guilt, and it would give the civil suits surrounding January 6th fairly solid footing to move forward and be successful. You know, the whole "Trump told me to attack the Capitol, etc."
Good point.
Very true, but regardless he will be in litigation hell for some time. For once in his life it will be people with resources FAR beyond hiw own that will be coming after him. He is the little guy now.
Those are Trump's 2 biggest fears. Prison for himself or his adored daughter.
She may not be "adored" after the 21st as she is planning to attend the inauguration which is betrayal in Trump's eyes.
She has to put on a legitimate front since there have been multiple reports of her looking to run for office.
She's going? It would be fabulous if someone told her she couldn't use any of the bathrooms. "Mam, that is for your security detail only. We have a bucket behind that tree over there which has been specially reserved for you and your family."
Sooooooo many amendments need to be made to the constitution....