On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to an additional 26 people, including the former campaign chief and one of the main suspects in the Russian investigation Paul Manafort. Trump has also decided once again to pardon his political aide Roger Stone and the father of his brother-in-law, Charles Kushner.
Last year, Manafort was found guilty of several things, including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, and failure to register as a “foreign agent” of the former pro-Russian Ukrainian government.
The former Trump campaign chief was one of the prime suspects in Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia. US intelligence agencies decided that the Russians were trying to influence the 2016 presidential election. Manafort no longer has to serve a prison sentence of more than six years.
Roger Stone, a Republican strategy officer who did background research on political opponents, among other things, was sentenced to three years in prison for lying to Congress, obstructing justice, and improperly influencing witnesses. Trump had previously reduced Stone’s sentence to a lower sentence.
Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s daughter’s husband, has also been pardoned. Kushner, a real estate developer like Trump, was convicted in 2005 of defrauding campaign funds, tax evasion and unauthorized influence of witnesses. Kushner was released in 2006 after serving two years in prison.
In addition to the 26 full petitions for clemency Trump approved on Wednesday, the president has commuted sentences imposed on three others.
Dozens of pardons in two days
Within two days, the US President issued an amnesty to dozens of convicts. On Tuesday, Trump pardoned Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwan, former campaign leader George Papadopoulos and thirteen others.
With his days as president of the United States numbered, Trump pardoned several convicted confidants. Trump also recently pardoned former adviser Michael Flynn.
With pardons, Trump wants to correct the “ injustice ” he believes was committed by Mueller’s team. In addition to Manafort, Flynn, van der Zwaan and Papadopoulos also played a role in Müller’s study.
