Manafort, Stone, Charles Kushner included in new round of Trump pardons

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump continued his string of pardons Wednesday night, wiping felonies from the records of Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, two political advisers who were convicted in the Russia investigation.

Manafort and Stone had resisted cooperating with prosecutors. Manafort was convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion, and he also pleaded guilty to illegally lobbying for Ukraine. He’s been serving a prison sentence of more than seven years.

Trump’s pardon of Stone follows his previous decision to commute his sentence, preventing him from going to prison for his conviction on charges of witness tampering and lying to Congress.

The two pardons were among 26 issued Wednesday night. He also pardoned Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a top White House adviser.

The elder Kushner served more than a year in prison for tax crimes, witness retaliation and making false statements to federal election officials. While he was under investigation, he tried to punish his brother-in-law for cooperating with prosecutors by arranging for him to have sex with a prostitute, then sending a video of the encounter to his wife.

Trump issued another batch of pardons earlier this week. Among those pardoned were four former contractors for Blackwater who had been convicted of killing Iraqi civilians.

Also pardoned Wednesday was Margaret Hunter, the estranged wife of Duncan Hunter, a former California congressman. They both pleaded guilty for misspending campaign funds.

Trump pardoned Duncan Hunter on Tuesday, as well as Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard, Blackwater military contractors who were convicted in 2015 for their roles in perpetrating a 2007 massacre that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, including two children.