Trump according to the Associated Press
On the evening of Tuesday (December 22), local time, US President Trump announced his list of pardons before the Christmas holiday, of which 15 were pardoned and 5 people were commuted.
CNN News, The New York Times and many other US media pointed out that even if Trump still firmly denies that he lost the election, his recent move has long been "conceded" - abandoning the main responsibility of the president and rushing to exercise his rights before the end of his term to repay his allies and loyal supporters.
According to the New York Times, 88 percent of the 45 pardons or commutations previously approved by Trump have "nepotism" with Trump himself or allies. In this list, there are not only notorious "war criminals" and congressional "fraudsters", but also two former campaign-related people who were convicted of "Russia".
And as the countdown to his presidency draws, Trump expects more pardons and commutations.
The list includes "war criminals" who kill civilians, "fraudsters" in Congress, etc
Or continue to pardon cronies involved in the "Russiagate" investigation
Trump's pardon list reportedly includes three of his former congressional supporters, former Rep. Chris Collins of New York, former Rep. Duncan Hunt of California, and former Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas. The New York Times said all three were "typical figures" of corruption among U.S. public officials.
Chris Collins was sentenced to 26 months in prison for a securities fraud conspiracy and a misrepresentation count. He has been serving a sentence in a federal prison in Florida since last October.
Chris Collins (left) and Duncan Hunter (right) according to CNN News
Duncan Hunter was sentenced this year to 11 months in prison plus 3 years of supervised release for misusing more than $200,000 of campaign funds for personal expenses. According to CNN News, Hunter was supposed to start serving his sentence in May this year, but was postponed to January 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Documents released by the White House show that "many members of Congress" have suggested pardoning Hunter.
Steve Stockman was convicted of nearly 20 felonies, including fraud and money laundering, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018. In the statement, the White House pardoned Stockman for the remaining 8 years of his sentence on the grounds that he was 64 years old and "has potential health problems and contracted covid-19 in prison."
In addition, Trump pardoned two people who pleaded guilty and served sentences in special counsel Mueller's investigation into Russiagate, namely Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to trump's campaign in 2016, and Van der Sawan, a Dutch lawyer, both of whom admitted to lying during an investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
↑ 2016 Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Papadopoulos according to CNN News
And more than a month ago, Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had confessed to lying to the FBI about investigating Russian interference in the election. In July, Trump also commuted the sentence of his old friend Roger Stone. Roger Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison for trying to obstruct Congress's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
The White House statement said the pardon "helps correct the mistakes that Mueller's team imposed on so many people." The US media pointed out that Trump will continue to pardon people related to the "Russiagate" investigation in the future.
In addition, Politico News reported that Trump's pardon list may have a significant impact overseas. Because four former Blackwater security personnel convicted of the massacre of Iraqi civilians appeared on the list — Nicholas Slytton, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Hield.
The four men were reportedly accused of illegally firing "powerful sniper fire and grenades" at innocent civilians in Baghdadani Plaza in September 2007, killing 14 Iraqi civilians and injuring 17 others and triggering a diplomatic crisis.
The Iraqi side, outraged by the massacre and the impunity of Blackwater, has sought a total ban on armed private contractors and demanded that the four be returned to Iraq for trial. U.S. President George W. Bush finally brokered an agreement promising four people to stand trial in the United States before the Iraqi government finally allowed security contractors to continue operating in Iraq.
Four "Blackwater" security guards (from left to right): Dustin Hield, Evan Liberty, Nicholas Slatton and Paul Slough, according to CNN News
In 2014, after a long and tortuous trial, four were eventually convicted by a federal jury, with Slatton, who fired the first shot, sentenced to life in prison and three others to 12 to 15 years in prison.
According to CNN News, the White House said in a pardon statement that some members of Congress and Pete Haguess supported the pardon for the four. Hagses is a conservative host at Fox News and a loyal ally of President Trump.
Characteristics of Trump's pardon: 80% are "their own people"
The original intention of the U.S. president's pardon power is to weaken the influence of excessively harsh or improper judicial sentences, and amnesty cases of political allies are not uncommon. One of the most controversial was former President Ford's pardoning of Nixon, who resigned in response to Watergate, after coming to power in 1974. Some analysts pointed out that Trump's pardon is different from other presidents.
A statistical table by Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith shows that of the 45 pardons or commutations approved by Trump before the above list was announced on the 22nd, 88% of the people had "nepotism" with those around Trump or helped him achieve his political goals.
Since Trump's defeat, phone calls and emails hoping to get a presidential pardon or commutation of his sentence have begun pouring into the West Wing of the White House, CNN News reported. To that end, a spreadsheet was made to record the requests received by Trump's close aides. "It's crazy," one person familiar with the matter said, "there are a lot of people campaigning for pardon rights." ”
Whether Trump will "advance" the pardon of his children is still a concern according to CNN News
Given that Trump has no interest in using the Justice Department's pardon lawyer system to evaluate administrative pardon requests, many petitioners call or email directly to senior White House advisers, Trump's son-in-law Kushner, White House Chief of Staff Meadows, or White House Counsel Pat Hippolyn without being able to reach Trump himself.
According to people familiar with the matter, Trump is keen on the "pardon game", he will review the summary of the case one by one, and sometimes let aides vote on who should be pardoned.
As for the guiding principle of "who is most likely to get a pardon," there is no doubt that trump knows people, or people who have strong networks to lobby for them. For example, according to the Washington Post, Blackwater founder Eric Prince is the younger brother of Trump Education Secretary Betty DeVos.
CNN reported that Trump basically excluded those who disagreed with him. At least one person seeking pardons on behalf of clients revealed that they hoped loyalty to Trump over the past four years would now be rewarded.
In addition, CNN also said that this is unlikely to be the last pardon before Trump leaves office. And in hundreds of requests directly to the White House, and tens of thousands of petitions to the Justice Department, the pardons are almost exclusively from their own circles.
People familiar with the matter said this week that it is not ruled out that Trump will carry out a "pre-emptive" amnesty for himself.
Red Star News reporter Xu Huan
Edited by Zhang Xun
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