Trump issues slew of TWENTY pardons including former campaign aide George Papadopoulos and disgraced ex-reps
PRESIDENT Donald Trump has pardoned a slew of people in his orbit as he prepares to leave the White House next month.
The lame duck president on Tuesday for his allies – including two former members of and two men convicted in the probe.
Crimes that have been pardoned range from lying to the FBI, to insider trading, to misuse of campaign funds, and first-degree murder of an Iraqi citizen.
George Papadopoulos, included in Trump's pardons, was the first campaign aide sentenced in .
Papadopoulos triggered the investigation and was sentenced in September 2018 for lying to the about his interactions with Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Former Republican Representatives Chris Collins, of , Duncan Hunter, of , and Steve Stockman, of , were also pardoned.
The pardons and commutations come as...
- Trump has 28 days left in the White House
- The president
- He
- that officials have linked to Russia
Collins was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump for the presidency – and was later sentenced to two years and two months in .
The former New York rep had admitted to helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.
Hunter was sentenced in March to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing more than $250,000 in campaign funds and trying to hide it on financial disclosures.
Prosecutors said he spent the money on everything ranging from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party.
Hunter resigned from Congress in January after representing one of Southern California’s last solidly Republican districts; he was scheduled to report to prison next month.
In 2018, Stockman was convicted in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering and was serving a 10-year sentence before he was pardoned.
Prosecutors said he conspired to take at least $775,000 from conservative foundations that planned to give the donations for charities and voter education.
Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators during Mueller’s investigation.
Van der Zwaan and Papadopoulos are the third and fourth Russia investigation defendants that have been granted clemency.
People close to Trump that the pardons related to the Mueller investigation "are a signal of more to come of people caught up in the investigation."
It was also announced on Tuesday night that Trump pardoned four former government contractors – Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard – convicted in a 2007 massacre in .
The massacre left more a dozen Iraqi civilians dead and caused an international uproar over the use of private security guards in a war zone.
Supporters of the four former Blackwater Worldwide contractors had lobbied for pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished; all four have been serving lengthy prison sentences.
Slatten was serving a life sentence without parole. Prosecutors said he was the first to fire shots in the massacre at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad that left 10 men, two women, and two boys, ages 9 and 11, dead.
Trump also granted full pardons to two former Border Patrol agents "whose sentences for their roles in the shooting of an alleged drug trafficker had previously been commuted by President George W. Bush."
Last month, , who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Months earlier, , just days before he was to report to prison.
Since Trump lost the election to Joe Biden, .
that those up for included and , along with , Eric, and .
Others touted for Trump to pardon reportedly include , 's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and former adviser , according to a report.
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There's even speculation that .
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It's not unusual for presidents to grant clemency on their way out of .
However, Trump has made it clear that he has no issues about intervening in the cases of friends and allies whom he believes have been treated unfairly.