{"slug":"first-term-pardons-political-allies","title":"First-Term Pardons: Rewarding Allies Who Protected Trump from Prosecution","date":"2020-12-23","lastUpdated":"2021-01-20","description":"In the final weeks of his first term, Trump issued a wave of pardons and commutations that primarily benefited political allies, campaign operatives, and associates who had been convicted in investigations connected to Russian interference, or who had remained silent and refused to cooperate with prosecutors. The pardons included Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Charles Kushner, and others — a pattern critics described as corruption of the pardon power.","summary":"Trump's end-of-term pardons formed a pattern: the beneficiaries were overwhelmingly personal associates, political allies, or people whose silence or loyalty had protected Trump from prosecutorial pressure. Manafort and Stone had both been convicted in Mueller's investigation. Flynn had pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI. Bannon was under indictment for fraud. The pardons rewarded loyalty and silence — establishing that cooperation with investigators would not be protected, while non-cooperation would be.","category":"rule-of-law","severity":"critical","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/23/us/politics/trump-pardons.html","title":"Trump Pardons Flynn, Manafort and Others in Final Weeks of Term","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-pardons-stone-manafort/2020/12/23/","title":"Trump pardons Manafort, Stone, and 26 others","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/trump-pardon-bannon.html","title":"Trump Pardons Steve Bannon in Rush of Last-Minute Clemency","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/us/politics/trump-michael-flynn-pardon.html","title":"Trump Pardons Michael Flynn","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.justsecurity.org/75110/trumps-pardon-binge-the-power-and-its-corruption/","title":"Trump's Pardon Binge: The Power and Its Corruption","publisher":"Just Security"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["pardons","rule-of-law","Manafort","Roger-Stone","Flynn","Bannon","obstruction","first-term"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2020-07-10","title":"Roger Stone sentence commuted","summary":"Trump commutes Roger Stone's 40-month sentence — imposed for obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress — days before Stone was to report to prison. Prosecutors who handled the case resign in protest after political interference in sentencing recommendations."},{"date":"2020-11-25","title":"Michael Flynn pardoned","summary":"Trump pardons Michael Flynn — his former National Security Advisor, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak regarding sanctions. Flynn had sought to withdraw his guilty plea and the Justice Department under AG Barr had controversially moved to drop the charges, but a federal judge refused; the pardon mooted the matter."},{"date":"2020-12-23","title":"Manafort, Stone, Kushner, others pardoned","summary":"Trump issues a sweeping set of pardons including Paul Manafort (convicted of tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, foreign agent violations), Roger Stone (fully pardoned after sentence commutation), Charles Kushner (tax evasion, witness tampering), and 26 others including two former Republican congressman convicted of corruption."},{"date":"2021-01-20","title":"Steve Bannon pardoned on last day","summary":"In the final hours of his term, Trump pardons Steve Bannon, who was under federal indictment for allegedly defrauding donors to the 'We Build the Wall' crowdfunding campaign by misappropriating funds for personal expenses. The pardon prevents trial and means no verdict on the merits. New York state charges, which a federal pardon cannot touch, are later pursued."},{"date":"2021-01-20","title":"Elliott Broidy and others pardoned","summary":"Trump also pardons Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for lobbying on behalf of foreign governments' interests; and Kwame Kilpatrick, the former Mayor of Detroit who was serving 28 years for corruption. The breadth of the pardons extends beyond obvious political allies to include Republican-connected figures with unrelated convictions."}],"location":{"name":"Washington, D.C.","lat":38.9072,"lng":-77.0369},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"UN Convention Against Corruption","article":"Article 18","provision":"Trading in influence — pardons conditioned on witness non-cooperation constitute obstruction and corruption of the justice system"}],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Rule of law; victims of crimes committed by pardoned individuals; the public interest in accountability for campaign finance crimes, fraud, and lying to investigators","structuredVictims":[{"group":"Donors defrauded by Steve Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' scheme","status":"Pardoned before trial; no restitution ordered"}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2021-01-20","summary":"Updated with final day pardons including Bannon."}]}}