Before leaving office, the current US President Trump will use his power to pardon whom, has always been a matter of concern to the outside world.
The White House website issued a press release on December 22 announcing that Trump had pardoned 15 people on the same day and reduced some or all of the sentences of the other five. Among those pardoned were 2 former campaign advisers who pleaded guilty in "Russiagate," four Blackwater contractors who killed Iraqi civilians, and 2 former Republican members of Congress. Another former Republican congressman involved in money laundering and fraud was given a resting sentence commutation.
White House press release on Trump's pardon
The New York Times believes this is Trump's "new bold pardon campaign" ahead of Christmas, and that it could be the beginning of more initiatives before he leaves office.
Among these 20 people, the US media is most concerned about the 2 former Members of the Trump campaign team involved in the "Russiagate" investigation. One of them, George Papadopoulos, was a former adviser to the Trump campaign.
In 2017, he admitted during Trump's "Russiagate" investigation that he had lied to FBI agents about the timing and importance of contacts with senior Russian officials. Therefore, Robert Mueller, then the special prosecutor of the "Russiagate", argued that Papadopoulos had caused damage to the "Tongrumen" investigation.
Papadopoulos video screenshot
In the end, Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison, served 12 days in federal prison, and then sentenced to 12 months of supervised release.
Another person trump pardoned was Alex van der Zwaan, a former diplomatic adviser to the campaign team. He was also sentenced to 30 days in prison and a $20,000 fine for lying to investigators during the "Russiagate" investigation.
The New York Times quoted people close to Trump as saying the pardon, which was related to the Mueller investigation, was a "signal" that more would happen in the future for those involved in the investigation.
On the 25th of last month, Trump also pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In the 2017 Russiagate investigation, Flynn twice admitted to lying to FBI agents about conversations with Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States. But in January, Flynn abruptly demanded that the plea agreement be withdrawn.
In addition to the two campaign advisers, three former Republican lawmakers are also the focus of attention. The three were former California Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Chris Collins of New York, and Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas.
Hunt pleaded guilty in 2019 to an allegation of misuse of campaign funds and was sentenced to 11 months, which was supposed to begin serving next month. Collins, an early trump supporter, pleaded guilty in 2019 to allegations of misrepresentation to the FBI and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and is currently serving a 26-month sentence. In 2018, Stockman was sentenced to 10 years in prison on fraud and money laundering charges and is currently serving a sentence, and Trump has waived the rest of his sentence this time.
Trump's pardon list also includes four U.S. veterans. In 2007, when they were employed by Blackwater, they were accused of participating in a massacre of Iraqi civilians.
The White House pardon text claimed that the pardons of the four men received "broad support" from the public. In 2007, the four worked in Iraq as security contractors and were responsible for ensuring the safety of Americans. When the convoy attempted to establish a blockade outside the "green zone", the situation turned violent, resulting in "unfortunate deaths and injuries" among Iraqi civilians. The charges against the men were initially dismissed, but they were eventually tried on charges ranging from first-degree murder to intentional homicide.
The New York Times reported that the Justice Department had gone to great lengths to prosecute one of them, a Blackwater contractor named Nicholas Slatton. He killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdani Plaza, including 10 men, 2 women and 2 boys, aged 8 and 11, respectively. It is also one of the "most enduring stains" in American war history. Eventually, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Ms. NBC host Moshidin also tweeted that Slatton had been charged with killing 14 Iraqi civilians (17 in the New York Times).
In addition to the above-mentioned personnel, Trump has also pardoned two former Border Patrol personnel who were sentenced for shooting a drug smuggler after President George W. Bush had commuted their sentences.
The pardon power comes from the U.S. Constitution and is one of the broadest powers enjoyed by the President of the United States. Under the U.S. Constitution, pardons cannot be reviewed by other government departments, and the president is not required to give reasons for issuing pardons. The form of pardon includes the removal of the criminal conviction of a specific person, or a reduction in sentence on the basis of retaining the original sin. A Reuters article in November analyzed that Trump has the power to pardon his family, but there is no precedent for pardoning the president himself.
CNN previously quoted a source as saying that the presidential pardon was a hot topic of discussion before Trump left office.
The New York Times believes that this is unlikely to be Trump's last before leaving office. The pardon will undoubtedly fuel the claim that Trump is "aggressively" using the pardon power for personal and political purposes.
Jack Goldsmith, a professor at Harvard Law School, said 88 percent of the 45 pardons or commutations approved by Mr. Trump so far Tuesday helped people with personal ties to the president or favored his political goals.
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