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Shortly before the end of his term, the president-elect of the United States, Trump, pardoned another 15 people. His former election campaign advisor Papadopoulos, two former MPs and four veterans, among others, benefit from this.
Outgoing US President Donald Trump pardons others who have been convicted, among other things, in connection with Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Among other things, Trump granted his former campaign adviser George Papadopoulos a total pardon. Papadopoulos had inadvertently sparked the Russia investigation by special investigator Robert Mueller. He later pleaded guilty to lying to FBI officials about his contacts with senior Russian officials.
Mueller had investigated whether there were deals between the Trump camp and Russia in the 2016 election campaign. As a result of the Mueller investigation, Papadopoulos was sentenced to two weeks in prison. “Today’s forgiveness corrects the injustice that Mueller’s team did to so many people,” the reasoning went. Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, who was also convicted in the course of the Russia investigation, was fully pardoned by Trump.
By the end of November, Trump had already pardoned his former National Security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump regularly criticized the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Impunity for Blackwater employees
In addition, four US military veterans who had been sentenced to life in prison for serving in Baghdad for the private security company Blackwater will enjoy amnesty.
Blackwater employees opened machine gun fire from their armored vehicles in a busy Baghdad square in 2007. Several Iraqi civilians were killed in the process. The defense argued at the time that the men acted in self-defense after the rebels fired on their convoy. The US government had hired Blackwater to handle personal protection in Iraq.
The White House noted in the pardon that the Blackwater guards had “a long history of service to the nation.”
Criticism of the amnesty for former deputies
Trump pardoned a total of 15 people and converted some of the sentences of another five people. Some of the pardons were guilty of securities fraud, perjury, misuse of campaign and charity funds or marijuana trafficking.
The pardons also include former Republican MPs Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins. Collins was the first member of the United States Congress to endorse Trump’s presidential candidacy. He had confessed to helping his son and other insiders avoid losses of $ 800,000 in the stock market. For this he was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.
Hunter, also an early Trump supporter, was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds. He spent the money on private trips and at his daughter’s birthday party. Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the pardons for Collins and Hunter came at “requests from many members of Congress.”
The Democratic head of the Secret Service Committee in the House of Representatives, Adam Schiff, criticized the measure and spoke of an abuse of power. Trump used the instrument of forgiveness to reward his friends and political allies and to protect those who “lie to cover him.”
More forgiveness is expected
Therefore, Trump is using his power in the final weeks of his term to reward his loyal followers and others whom he believes have been harmed by a legal system that he believes is biased against him and his allies. Observers expect Trump to issue more amnesties before election winner Joe Biden takes office on January 20, possibly even for members of his own family.
Former presidents like Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama also used the right to grant pardons until their last days in office. Even then, there were always controversial cases.
