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Trump Pardons Bannon, Dozens of Others 01/20 06:18
President Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part
of a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of his White House term that
benefited more than 140 people, including rap performers, ex-members of
Congress and other allies of him and his family.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist
Steve Bannon as part of a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of his
White House term that benefited more than 140 people, including rap performers,
ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.
The last-minute clemency, announced Wednesday morning, follows separate
waves of pardons over the past month for Trump associates convicted in the
FBI's Russia investigation as well as for the father of his son-in-law. Taken
together, the actions underscore the president's willingness, all the way
through his four years in the White House, to flex his constitutional powers in
ways that defy convention and explicitly aid his friends and supporters.
To be sure, the latest list was heavily populated by more conventional
candidates whose cases had been championed by criminal justice activists. One
man who has spent nearly 24 years in prison on drug and weapons charges but had
shown exemplary behavior behind bars had his sentence commuted, as did a former
Marine sentenced in 2000 in connection with a cocaine conviction.
But the names of prominent Trump allies nonetheless stood out.
Besides Bannon, other pardon recipients included Elliott Broidy, a
Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a scheme to lobby the
Trump administration to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian
wealth fund, and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was
charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.
Bannon's pardon was especially notable given that the prosecution was still
in its early stages and any trial was months away. Whereas pardon recipients
are conventionally thought of as defendants who have faced justice, often by
having served at least some prison time, the pardon nullifies the prosecution
and effectively eliminates any prospect for punishment.
"Steve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trump's own
supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for,"
Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff said on Twitter. "And if that all sounds crazy,
that's because it is. Thank God we have only 12 more hours of this den of
thieves."
And while other presidents have issued controversial pardons at the ends of
their administration, perhaps no commander in chief has so enjoyed using the
clemency authority to benefit not only friends and acquaintances but also
celebrity defendants and those championed by allies.
Wednesday's list includes its share of high-profile defendants. Among them
were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida on weapons
charges. Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, has frequently
expressed support for Trump and recently met with the president on criminal
justice issues. Others on the list included Death Row Records co-founder
Michael Harris and New York art dealer and collector Hillel Nahmad.
Other pardon recipients include former Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona
Republican who served three years for corruption, money laundering and other
charges, and former Rep. Duke Cunningham of California, who was convicted of
accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors. Cunningham, who was
released from prison in 2013, received a conditional pardon.
Trump also commuted the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick, who has served about seven years behind bars for a racketeering and
bribery scheme.
Bannon has been charged with duping thousands of donors who believed their
money would be used to fulfill Trump's chief campaign promise to build a wall
along the southern border. Instead, he allegedly diverted over a million
dollars, paying a salary to one campaign official and personal expenses for
himself.
Bannon did not respond to questions Tuesday.
Trump has already pardoned a slew of longtime associates and supporters,
including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; Charles Kushner, the
father of his son-in-law; his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone; and his
former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
A voice of nationalist, outsider conservatism, Bannon --- who served in the
Navy and worked at Goldman Sachs and as a Hollywood producer before turning to
politics --- led the conservative Breitbart News before being tapped to serve
as chief executive officer of Trump's 2016 campaign in its critical final
months.
He later served as chief strategist to the president during the turbulent
early days of Trump's administration and was at the forefront of many of its
most contentious policies, including its travel ban on several majority-Muslim
countries.
But Bannon, who clashed with other top advisers, was pushed out after less
than a year. And his split with Trump deepened after he was quoted in a 2018
book making critical remarks about some of Trump's adult children. Bannon
apologized and soon stepped down as chairman of Breitbart. He and Trump have
recently reconciled.
In August, he was pulled from a luxury yacht off the coast of Connecticut
and brought before a judge in Manhattan, where he pleaded not guilty. When he
emerged from the courthouse, Bannon tore off his mask, smiled and waved to news
cameras. As he went to a waiting vehicle, he shouted, "This entire fiasco is to
stop people who want to build the wall."
The organizers of the "We Build The Wall" group portrayed themselves as
eager to help the president build a "big beautiful" barrier along the
U.S.-Mexico border, as he promised during the 2016 campaign. They raised more
than $25 million from thousands of donors and pledged that 100% of the money
would be used for the project.
But according to the criminal charges, much of the money never made it to
the wall. Instead, it was used to line the pockets of group members, including
Bannon.
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