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Outgoing Republican President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned George Papadopoulos, 33, a former campaign adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents. Special counsel Robert Mahler on Russia’s alleged participation in the 2016 US presidential election.
Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwan, a 36-year-old Dutchman, the adopted son of a Russian billionaire, who was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $ 20,000 for lying to members of Special Counsel Mahler’s team.
In all, Trump pardoned 15 people, including two former Republican lawmakers, and commuted all or part of the sentences to five.
From the start, Trump rejected the search for Russia for Mahler, which he described as a witch hunt.
The pardon came just a month before the swearing-in of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, whose victory in the Nov.3 presidential election Trump continues to refuse to acknowledge.
Last month, Trump pardoned former White House national security adviser Gen. EA Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to two counts of lying to FBI agents. Flynn’s favor has been widely criticized by Democrats.
Chris Collins, 70, a former New York Republican lawmaker who was the first member of Congress to support Trump in 2016 and remains a staunch supporter of the outgoing president, pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiracy to commit security crimes. . fraud and perjury to FBI agents and was sentenced to 26 months in prison, which he is serving. He received the grace.
Another former Republican legislator who was pardoned is Duncan Hunter, 44, who a year ago pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle campaign money for personal gain. The charge carried a five-year prison term.
The outgoing president also commuted the sentence of former Texas Republican Steve Stockman, 64, who was convicted in 2018 of embezzlement of funds earmarked for charity. He served two of the 10 years in prison that were imposed on him. According to the White House, he will remain under judicial supervision and pay $ 1 million in damages.
Trump also commuted the sentence of Crystal Moon, who had been convicted of conspiracy to smuggle marijuana. The case of Munios, a former ally of Alice Johnson, in which Trump had shown leniency in 2018, gained publicity mainly thanks to Kim Kardashian West, a celebrity of the “reality show” of American television.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
