Last Minute Scramble: Trump On Pardon Spree {The List}

<p><em>Last minute in the tenure of President Trump seems to be devoted to pardons<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that President Donald Trump who vacates White House today has focused on pardon in a <strong>last<&sol;strong> minute scramble&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This online medium gathered that the out going Republican President has been issuing raft of 11th hour pardons&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In early Wednesday&comma; pardon was extended to his onetime political strategist&comma; a former top fundraiser and two well-known rappers but not himself or his family&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The batch of clemency issued in his final day in office was expected&comma; and is in keeping with longstanding presidential tradition&period; The pardon&comma; according to credible source were doled out to individuals whose cases have been championed by criminal justice reform advocates&comma; including people serving lengthy sentences for low-level offenses&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But several controversial names are said to have appeared which include Steve Bannon who has pleaded not guilty to charges he defrauded donors in a &&num;8220&semi;We Build the Wall&&num;8221&semi; online fundraising campaign&period; Trump had spent the past days deliberating over a pardon for the man who helped him win the presidency in 2016 and followed him to the White House&period; During his final hours in office there was a frantic debate underway behind the scenes on whether to grant Bannon a pardon&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the last minute scramble&comma; one concern was Bannon&&num;8217&semi;s possible connection to the January 6 riot of Trump supporters at the US Capitol&comma; according to a source familiar with the discussions&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Over the course of Tuesday&comma; Trump continued to contemplate pardons that aides believed were settled&comma; including for his former strategist&period; The President continued to go back and forth on it into Tuesday night&comma; sources told CNN&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Other names included Tuesday were Elliott Broidy&comma; a former top fundraiser for Trump&&num;8217&semi;s campaign who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy relating to a secret lobbying campaign to <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">influence<&sol;a> the Trump administration on behalf of a foreign billionaire in exchange for millions of dollars&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The rapper Lil Wayne received a pardon after pleading guilty to a gun possession charge in Miami&period; Another rapper&comma; Kodak Black&comma; received a commutation after he pleaded guilty to a weapons charge&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Trump also offered clemency to Paul Erickson&comma; the conservative political operative and ex-boyfiend of alleged Russian spy Maria Butina&comma; who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges&semi; Robin Hayes&comma; a North Carolina political donor convicted of trying to bribe officials&semi; Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick&comma; convinced of federal charges including racketeering&comma; extortion and the filing of false tax returns&semi; William Walters&comma; a professional sports gambler convicted of insider trading&semi; and Aviem Sella&comma; an Israeli air force officer who the US accused of being a spy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Trump&&num;8217&semi;s final acts of clemency come after a scramble in recent days among criminal justice reform advocates and several White <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">House<&sol;a> officials to finalize the list and convince Trump to approve the actions&period; These pardons will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the slew of controversial ones Trump also issue in the same final batch on Tuesday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While outgoing Presidents typically issue pardons before leaving office&comma; Trump has proven more willing to use his pardon power to brazenly reward political loyalty&comma; the wealthy and well-connected and those who did not cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller&&num;8217&semi;s investigation&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The January 6 riots that led to Trump&&num;8217&semi;s second impeachment has complicated issues especially as it concerns his family members and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani&comma; and a source close to the process said those are no longer expected&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After the riot&comma; advisers encouraged Trump to forgo a self-pardon because it would appear like he was guilty of something&comma; according to one person familiar with the conversations&period; Several of Trump&&num;8217&semi;s closest advisers have also urged him not to grant clemency to anyone involved in the siege on the US Capitol&comma; despite Trump&&num;8217&semi;s initial stance that those involved had done nothing wrong&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After weeks focusing on contesting the election and reeling from the fallout of the January 6 insurrection&comma; Trump finally snapped back to attention on pardons in recent days and indeed&comma; in a last minute scramble&comma; one source said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;You couldn&&num;8217&semi;t get the President to focus on this&comma;&&num;8221&semi; a source close to the process said of Trump in recent weeks&period; &&num;8220&semi;And then this weekend&comma; he didn&&num;8217&semi;t have his Twitter&comma; he didn&&num;8217&semi;t have all these other distractions&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Trump&comma; who sank deeper into lame duck status in recent weeks&comma; was reminded that his pardon power is one of the remaining undiminished aspects of his presidential power&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;This source said Trump also resonated with cases in which individuals who went to trial got significantly more prison time than co-defendants who cooperated with law enforcement&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t think he likes when people get screwed just because they go to trial&comma;&&num;8221&semi; this source said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While Jared Kushner has been closely involved in pardons throughout his time at the White House&comma; this source said that Ivanka Trump became much more closely involved in the push for pardons in recent days&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Together&comma; Kushner and Ivanka Trump worked with the White House counsel&&num;8217&semi;s office and Justice Department while also working to convince Trump to support a series of clemency actions in the vein of criminal justice reform&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;After meetings this weekend&comma; Trump met again with his daughter&comma; son-in-law and other White House officials on Monday to finalize the list of clemency actions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;