Beat the rap: Pardons for Bannon and musician Lil Wayne
DONALD Trump used his final hours in office to pardon Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist who had denied fraud charges relating to fundraising for the US-Mexico border wall, and grant clemency to 142 others including rapper Lil Wayne, who was convicted of weapons charges in Florida.
But Mr Trump did not preemptively pardon himself or members of his family, reportedly deciding it might imply they were guilty of crimes.
Mr Bannon (67) was a key adviser in Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and in the early period of his presidency. He was fired from his role at the White House amid acrimony in August 2017.
Last year, Mr Bannon was charged with defrauding supporters of the president over an effort to raise private funds to build the US-Mexico border wall. He has pleaded not guilty.
The pardon power, which emanates from the US Constitution, is extremely broad.
It is generally used to pardon people who have been prosecuted, but can cover conduct that has not yet resulted in legal proceedings. However, the power only applies to federal crimes and does not cover state prosecutions.
There were pardons for other high-profile people from the world of politics.
They included Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last year to violating lobbying laws in an attempt to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.
Mr Trump also commuted the prison sentence of Kwame Kilpatrick, a former mayor of Detroit, who had served seven years after being convicted of charges including racketeering.
In previous waves Mr Trump had already pardoned Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.