Trump pardons former campaign chairman Paul Manafort

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (Thursday NZT) issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest outburst of clemency in his last weeks the White House.

The actions bring to nearly 50 the number of people Trump has granted clemency in the past two days, either by pardoning them or commuting their sentences.

The pardons for Manafort and Roger Stone, whose sentence Trump commuted months earlier, underscore the president’s determination to use the power of his office in recent weeks to unravel the results of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation and come to the aid of associates he feels were unjustly persecuted.

Trump has now pardoned four people convicted in that investigation, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who both pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

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Manafort had been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for financial crimes related to his work in Ukraine and was one of the first people charged as part of Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.

He was released last May due to coronavirus concerns in the federal prison system.

Manafort, in a tweet, thanked Trump and praised the outgoing president, stating that history would show that he had accomplished more than any of his predecessors.

Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a wealthy real estate executive who pleaded guilty years ago to tax evasion and illegal campaign donations.

Trump and the older Kushner knew each other in real estate circles, and their sons married in 2009.