Trump’s pardons of campaign inner circle met with disgust
US President Donald Trump granted 26 pardons on Wednesday, including to his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, associate Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, the father of his son- in- law, taking to 49 the number of people to whom he has granted clemency in two days.
The president issued 15 pardons on Tuesday, including to three former corrupt members of Congress and four Blackwater military contractors convicted over the 2007 massacre of 17 Iraqi civilians. Mr Trump also commuted the sentences of five other people. On Wednesday he commuted three people’s sentences.
The spree of pardons and commutations this week was described as disgraceful and grotesque by Democrats in Congress, but no sitting Republican legislator has yet criticised the moves.
Mr Manafort was among the first in Mr Trump’s inner circle to face charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of his investigation into purported Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Mr Stone was convicted in November last year of lying under oath to politicians also investigating Russian interference in that election. Mr Trump commuted his sentence in July.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump pardoned two other people convicted in Mr Mueller’s investigation, including former campaign associate George Papadopoulos.
Mr Kushner, the father of Mr Trump’s son- in- law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making unlawful campaign donations.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that 88 per cent
of Mr Trump’s pardons are of people with a personal connection to him or his political efforts.
“A tabulation by the Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith found that of the 45 pardons or commutations Mr Trump had granted up until Tuesday, 88 per cent aided someone with a personal tie to the president or furthered his political aims,” it said.
The White House insisted the pardons were supported by the American public and legislators. But Democrats pounced on the president’s actions.
“They’re grotesque. They’re morally repugnant. And they’re exactly what we expect of Donald Trump,” Adam Schiff, chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC.
He was equally outspoken on Twitter, where he described the president as corrupt.
Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin said Mr Trump’s pardons are for “con men” and “betrayers of the nations”.
“Trump has pardoned corrupt GOP perjurers, thieves, shakedown artists, war criminals, con men, Medicare ripoff kings and betrayers of the nation. How about some pardons outside his inner circle?” Mr Raskin tweeted.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the Blackwater pardons a “new low” and degrading to the office of the presidency.
“These military contractors were convicted for their role in killing 17 Iraqi civilians. Their actions caused devastation in Iraq, shame and horror in the United States and scandal worldwide.”
“With this disgraceful action, Trump insults the memory of the Iraqi victims and further degrades the office of the president,” it said.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog, called the move a slap to the US justice system.
“The message Trump sent tonight is clear: no matter how awful your crime was, justice does not apply to you if you are loyal to him,” the group’s executive director, Noah Bookbinder, said.
Marta Hurtado, a spokeswoman for the UN’s Human Rights Office, said she was “deeply concerned” by the pardons. She said they denied justice to victims’ families and would embolden others to commit similar crimes.
But on conservative media outlets such as Fox News, Mr Trump was praised by some for his courage.
“God bless the president for having the courage … to pardon those men,” Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.