Queue for Trump pardons
Host of President’s allies among those seeking clemency before he exits role
It’s not just Michael T. Flynn. The White House is weighing a wave of pardons and commutations by President Donald Trump in his final weeks in office, prompting jockeying by a range of clemency seekers and their representatives, including more allies of Trump.
Among those hoping for pardons are two former Trump campaign advisers, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos who, like Flynn, the former national security adviser who was pardoned yesterday by Trump, were convicted in cases stemming from the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
Alan Dershowitz, the law professor who represented Trump during his impeachment trial, is considering seeking clemency for two of his clients — a New Jersey man serving more than 20 years for defrauding investors, and a billionaire businessman convicted in what’s been called “one of North Carolina’s worst government corruption scandals”.
Dershowitz said he discussed the process with the White House.
“Lists of people are being circulated,” said Brandon Sample, a Vermont lawyer who specialises in presidential pardons and has submitted several names of people to be considered.
The end of any presidential administration is a time for intense lobbying related to pardons.
But in Trump’s case, it extends to his own personal and political considerations, his lingering bitterness over the Russia inquiry and his transactional approach to governing.
The sheer number of people in the President’s circle to have got in trouble with the law has also made the question of pardons especially fraught. In addition to Flynn, Gates and Papadopoulos, Trump aides and associates who have been convicted include Michael D. Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer; Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime friend and adviser; and Paul
Manafort, his former campaign chairman.
Others in the President’s circle to face federal charges include Stephen K. Bannon, his former strategist, who was indicted in August on charges of defrauding donors to a campaign to support Trump’s plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico, and Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser, who pleaded guilty last month in a foreign lobbying case.
A White House spokesman, Judd Deere, declined to comment.
So far, Trump has granted 28
pardons, which wipe out convictions, and 16 commutations, which reduce prison sentences. The combined total is the lowest so far for any President since at least William McKinley, who took office in 1897, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Centre.
President Barack Obama issued 212 pardons and 1715 commutations during his eight years in office, most of which went to low-profile convicts who were facing long prison terms for non violent offences. Of the actions Trump has taken, many have benefited individuals with a personal or
political connection to him.
They include Stone, who had been convicted of charges brought by the special counsel, conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and former Wall Street executive Michael Milken, whose bid for a pardon drew support from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
Trump also has mused about pardoning Manafort, who was sentenced to 71⁄ years in prison for
2 obstructing justice and violating financial and lobbying laws, in the highest-profile of the cases brought by the special counsel. There is open speculation about whether he might go even further in using his clemency power in his self-interest, possibly issuing pre-emptive pardons to members of his family and even himself for federal crimes.
Even if such a self-pardon were possible — scholars differ on the legality — it would not inoculate Trump against possible charges stemming from investigations into his business and finances by city and state prosecutors in New York.