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Acquits former strategist Bannon, 73 others in last official acts
Hours before the end of his presidential term, United States President Donald Trump has granted clemency to his former Senior Adviser and strategist, Steve Bannon, among scores of other friends, aides and associates
In the final hours of his presidency, the outgoing President’s released list of those granted pardoned or commuted sentences range from rappers to financiers and lobbyists during his four years tenure in the White House
Bannon was arrested last year over allegations he improperly used funds from a ‘Build The Wall’ fundraiser. The former Trump strategist was previously considered an unlikely name among the 143 people who have received clemency from the outgoing president.
Though a further 70 people had their sentences commuted, obviously heeding the counsel from White House officials, Trump did not attempt to give himself a pre-emptive pardon, and has not pardoned members of his family or Rudy Giuliani, his former personal lawyer with whom he has fallen out.
On the list of 73 people pardoned was Elliott Broidy, a leading former fundraiser for Trump who admitted illegally lobbying the US government to drop its inquiry into the Malaysia 1MDB corruption scandal and deport an exiled Chinese billionaire
Also pardoned are Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, prosecuted on federal weapons offences, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, currently serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.
Aside Trump’s former personal attorney, Giuliani, another prominent figure subject to speculation, Julian Assange was also not on the clemency list.
However, prosecutors and scholars have argued that there is a grey area in the constitution that allows a president to issue ‘secret’ pardons, without notifying Congress or the public.
The New York Times and CNN described the pardoning of Bannon, a former editor of Breitbart as a last-minute pre-emptive move to protect Bannon from his upcoming fraud trial.
Bannon faces trial in May following his arrest in August last year on a luxury yacht off the Connecticut coast, accused of siphoning money from ‘We Build the Wall’, an online fundraiser for Trump’s contentious border wall with Mexico.
Federal prosecutors allege Bannon used a non-profit he controlled to divert “over $1m from the … online campaign, at least some of which he used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses”.
Officials said ‘We Build The Wall’ raised more than $25 million. But Bannon has denied the one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and another of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The news on Bannon and Broidy brought swift outcry across the country. Noah Bookbinder at legal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said: “Even Nixon didn’t pardon his cronies on the way out. Amazingly, in his final 24 hours in office, Donald Trump found one more way to fail to live up to the ethical standard of Richard Nixon.”
Democrat Adam Schiff tweeted: “Steve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trump’s own supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for. And if that all sounds crazy, that’s because it is. Thank God we have only 12 more hours of this den of thieves.”
Bannon was recently banned from Twitter for calling for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci and the FBI director, Christopher Wray.
He and Trump have been estranged since the former adviser left the White House and made critical remarks about the president in a tell-all book about the president called ‘Fire and Fury’ by journalist Michael Wolff.
But reacting to Bannon’s tantrums, Trump had said his former consigliere had “lost his mind”. His last-minute move on Bannon, reportedly delayed because he was so torn on the issue, notwithstanding, his former adviser would not be protected from charges brought against him by state courts.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump has also been mulling future political ambitions and reportedly told his aides about the possibility of forming a new political party with the favoured name ‘Patriot Party’.
Multiple Republican Party figures defending Trump in his second impeachment, for inciting the Capitol attack on 6 January, counselled him not to offer pardons to any of the more than 100 people arrested as a result.
Presidential pardons and acts of clemency do not imply innocence. Presidents often bestow them on allies and donors but Trump has taken the practice to extremes.
Previous recipients include aides and allies Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort, all convicted in the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow, and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law and chief adviser, Jared Kushner.
In addition, Trump commuted the sentences to time served for the following individuals: Jeff Cheney, Marquis Dargon, Jennings Gilbert, Dwayne L. Harrison, Reginald Dinez Johnson, Sharon King, and Hector Madrigal Snr
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were reportedly closely involved in the process deciding Trump’s final pardons.
Trump is due to leave Washington on Wednesday morning, ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president. He will fly to Florida, stripped of the legal protection of office.
Trump faces state investigations of his business affairs and could face legal jeopardy over acts in office, including his attempts to overturn election defeat and his incitement of the Capitol riot on 6 January, over which he was impeached a second time. – With The Guardian reports
