/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/60076c954df297e7de821574/0x0.jpg "Trump forgives and commutes 143 people on his last day – but does not forgive his family")
Top line
President Donald Trump offered a final wave of pardons and commutations to 143 people on Wednesday morning, a list that includes former campaign chief Steve Bannon, several political agents and rapper Lil Wayne – but despite weeks of speculation, Trump did not forgive himself. family or anyone directly involved in the Capitol riots
President Donald Trump waves with First Lady Melania Trump as they board Air Force One after a rally … [+]
AFP via Getty Images
Key Facts
Former White House strategist and Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon was pardoned on Wednesday, five months after the far-right political agent and former Breitbart News chief was accused of defrauding donors for a campaign of fundraising for the construction of a border wall.
Elliott Broidy, a former Trump 2016 fund-raiser who was accused of lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of foreign governments, received full pardon after pleading guilty last year for not registering as a foreign agent.
Paul Erickson, a Republican lawyer and ex-boyfriend of convicted Russian agent Maria Butina, was pardoned after pleading guilty to electronic fraud (a charge unrelated to Butina) in 2019; in a statement, the White House claimed that Erickson’s conviction resulted from the “Russian collusion hoax”, insisting that a pardon “helps to correct the mistakes of what has turned out to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American history.”
Three former Republican members of Congress were pardoned: California deputy Duke Cunningham (who was released from prison in 2013 after receiving millions of dollars in bribes from defense contractors), Arizona deputy Rick Renzi (who was convicted on charges of of corruption in 2013) and Rep. Robin Hayes of North Carolina (who pleaded guilty last year to lying to the FBI, part of a larger corruption investigation).
Notorious former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick received a commute from Trump, missing a 28-year sentence (which started in 2013) for allegedly orchestrating a massive extortion, bribery and extortion scheme while in office.
Lil Wayne, who praised Trump in an October tweet, he guaranteed total forgiveness for the gun possession charges he pleaded guilty last month, saving him up to 10 years in federal prison.
Rapper Kodak Black also received a commutation, reducing a 46-month sentence that began after he pleaded guilty to falsifying the gun’s paperwork in 2019.
Sholam Weiss received a commutation, shortening the incredible 835-year prison sentence he was sentenced to over two decades ago for creating an insurance fraud scheme (former Trump lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Jay Sekulow supported Weiss’s leniency ).
Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen secured a commute for orchestrating a Medicare fraud scheme, reducing his 17-year prison sentence.
Trump also offered pardons and commutations to dozens of lesser-known people serving sentences for drugs and other crimes.
Tangent
Trump ended up avoiding more controversial pardons for his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his adult children or his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Nor did the president try to forgive himself, which would have been an unprecedented and legally untested move, after several aides had warned that a self-forgiveness could make him appear guilty of a crime. And despite some scattered appeals, none of the Trump supporters who broke into the United States Capitol building nearly two weeks ago were forgiven.
Crucial Quote
Giuliani said Forbes Tuesday night he is not interested in forgiveness.
Amazing fact
Trump’s relationship with Bannon has fluctuated a lot in recent years. The president said his former campaign chief had “lost his head” in 2018, but Bannon has reportedly spoken to Trump several times in the past few weeks and was involved in an effort to disclose damaging information about President-elect Joe Biden before the election. last year.
Key Background
Trump offered fewer pardons and commutations than most other recent presidents, but he used his forgiving power in unconventional and controversial ways, often giving leniency to political and loyal allies. Several members of his 2016 campaign team have received pardons in recent months, including Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In addition, Trump forgave Charles Kushner, father of President Jared Kushner’s son-in-law, and he granted leniency to high-profile supporters like controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and former Republican congressmen Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins.