Donald Trump approved a wave of pre-Christmas pardons, granting clemency to a former campaign aide caught up in the Russia investigation, disgraced Republican lawmakers and several contractors convicted in a massacre in Iraq.
The White House announced on Tuesday Trump has granted full pardons to 15 people and commuted all or part of the sentences of five others. The beneficiaries include George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty to lying to federal officials as part of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and Alex van der Zwaan, who pleaded guilty to a similar charge in the Russia investigation and is the son-in-law of Russian billionaire German Khan.
The three former Republican lawmakers who were pardoned Tuesday were representative Chris Collins of New York, representative Duncan Hunter of California and representative Steve Stockman of Texas.
Collins, 70, had been the first sitting member of Congress to endorse Trump’s candidacy in 2016 and was a strong defender of the president. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud and making false statements to the FBI.
Hunter, 44, pleaded guilty in 2019 to conspiring to convert campaign funds to personal use, and Stockman, 64, who was convicted in 2018 of misuse of charitable funds.
Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard, the former contractors at Blackwater Worldwide, were serving lengthy prison in connection with the killings of civilians in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.
Trump’s use of the presidential pardon power has attracted considerable controversy. In November, for example, he pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation.
Speculation has flourished about who Trump may pardon next. The pardoning of Papadopoulos and van der Zwaan, both of whom were caught in the Russian election interference investigation led by the special counsel, Robert S Mueller III, may signal that more Trump associates embroiled in the matter could expect pardons, including former aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, and the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden are also among names commonly mentioned.
“Today’s pardon helps correct the wrong that Mueller’s team inflicted on so many people,” the White House said. Papadopoulos, 33, was an adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign. He pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to FBI agents about the timing and significance of his contacts with people who claimed to have ties to top Russian officials.
“The defendant’s crime was serious and caused damage to the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election,” a sentencing recommendation memo from the then-US special counsel Mueller said. Papadopoulos served only 12 days of a 14-day sentence in federal prison, then was placed on a 12-month supervised release.
It has also been reported that Trump has considered issuing a pre-emptive pardon for himself and members of his family who have worked in his White House.
Pardons and other acts of clemency, often to ordinary federal prisoners, are a common feature of the end of any presidency. According to the Pew Research Center, however, Trump “has used his clemency power less often than any president in modern history”.
“While rare so far,” Pew added, “Trump’s use of presidential clemency has caused controversy because of the nature of his pardons and commutations.” Many of Trump’s clemency recipients have had a “personal or political connection to the president”, according to a July analysis by the Lawfare blog, and he has often circumvented the formal process through which clemency requests are typically considered.”
Applying only to federal cases, presidential pardons do not imply innocence of the charges in hand.