Clemency
Critics Call Trump Self-Pardon Dangerous Precedent
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President Donald Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself, as well as family members and associates, in the final days of his presidency.
The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/category/clemency/)
President Donald Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself, as well as family members and associates, in the final days of his presidency.
President Donald Trump so far has granted pardons or commutations mostly to people who had either a personal or political connection to the White House. Only seven were recommended by the federal pardon attorney.
Philip Esformes, guilty of one of the nation’s largest Medicare frauds, was spared by President Donald Trump after his family contributed to a Jewish humanitarian group that advances inmate rights.
President Donald Trump issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 more people on Wednesday, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law and White House adviser, Jared.
Some of President Donald Trump’s actions have seemed intended to send clear messages, such as grants of clemency for George Papadopoulos, the former campaign operative whose 2016 activities triggered the FBI probe that led to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
“Everyone hopes they have a friend of a friend of a friend of a cousin who they hope will get them to read their email,” says one source.
The Minnesota Board of Pardons commuted the life sentence of Myon Burrell, a Black man who was sentenced to life in prison as a minor. The Associated Press and American Public Media reported on police failings in the case.
President Donald Trump may argue that pardons for his friends and family members are necessary to spare them from paying millions in legal fees to fight what he describes as witch hunts.
One expert described President Trump‘s exoneration of his ex-national security adviser as perhaps the broadest act of clemency since President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has blocked parole for Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten, marking the fourth time a governor has halted her release.