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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump granted new pardons Wednesday to his allies, including the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and two confidants caught up in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election that brought him to power.
The pardons were added to a long list he granted in his final days in office and sparked new outrage.
Among those pardoned are Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty to charges including tax evasion and witness tampering in 2004, as well as former campaign manager Paul Manafort and adviser Roger Stone.
The trio were among 26 people pardoned and three to whom Trump commuted all or part of their sentences on Wednesday.
They come just one day after Trump pardoned 15 others and commuted the sentences to five, including corrupt Republican congressmen and security guards convicted of killing 14 civilians in a 2007 Baghdad massacre.
Trump’s pardon of Manafort, who was at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Russian interference in the elections four years ago, sparked a furor because Trump was trying to erase the investigation he has always described as a “Witch hunt”. “
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, who heads the House intelligence committee, said in a tweet that “during the Mueller investigation, Trump’s attorney presented a clemency to Manafort. Manafort withdrew his cooperation with prosecutors, lied, He was convicted and then Trump praised him for not “ratting.” Trump’s pardon now completes the corrupt plan. “
Manafort himself took to Twitter and said, “You really did ‘Make America Great Again.’ God bless you and your family. I wish you a Merry Christmas and many good wishes for the years to come.”
David Axelrod, a political commentator and former aide to President Barack Obama, said of the move: “Everybody saw this raw sewage dump of pardons and commutations for gadgets and @realDonaldTrump loyalists coming … Yet the show it’s still awful. “
Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who has spoken out against Trump, said simply, “This is rotten to the core.”
Hours earlier, Iraqis had expressed outrage and sadness after Trump pardoned the four Blackwater security contractors who were convicted of murder and manslaughter six years ago for the Nisur Square massacre.
The four, all former US servicemen, opened fire without provocation in the crowded square in 2007, killing at least 14 civilians, although Iraqi authorities estimated the death toll at 17, wounding dozens more and deeply souring relations between the United States. and Iraq.
‘Total outrage’
“I knew we would never get justice,” Fares Saadi, the Iraqi police officer who led the investigations, told AFP.
Retired US General Mark Hertling, who served in Iraq, called Blackwater’s pardon “egregious and disgusting.”
“This was a cowardly war crime that resulted in the death of 17 Iraqi civilians. What a shame, Mr. President,” Hertling tweeted, using the highest number of deaths.
Trump had also granted pardons to two more minor figures in the 2016 Russia election meddling investigation and granted clemency to three former Republican legislators that the Washington watchdog group Citizens for Accountability and Ethics called “three of the most most corrupt congressmen in recent history. ” “
All five have been Trump supporters.
Trump also surprised prosecutors in Florida on Tuesday when he commuted the prison sentence of Philip Esformes, a healthcare mogul sentenced in 2019 to 20 years in prison for defrauding the federal Medicare program of $ 44 million, the fraud case. to the largest Medicare in history.
While Esformes had no obvious ties to Trump, he had the backing of several influential former attorney generals and Republican attorneys who have supported the president.
More forgiveness ahead
Trump is believed to be weighing other pardons, including members of his family, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and potentially himself, to protect himself from potential litigation after his January 20 resignation.
That could cause an even bigger ruckus, although it would probably be difficult to reverse.
Trump is also coming under pressure from libertarian and civil rights groups to pardon three people involved in national security information leaks: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and another former NSA employee, Reality Winner.
Others known for seeking pardons include former US soldier Robert Bale, convicted of murdering 16 Afghan civilians in 2012, and Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic, the star of the hit Netflix documentary “Tiger King,” convicted of attempting to hire a man to assassinate a rival.
