Tag

#pardon

4 incidents

Updated December 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

Roger Stone: Convicted, Then Commuted, Then Pardoned — Witness Tampering and Obstruction Rewarded

Stone was convicted of lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks, which had published emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta by Russian intelligence. The jury found he had also tampered with a witness — elderly former radio host Randy Credico — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's false congressional testimony. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after political appointees overrode their sentencing recommendation. A fifth prosecutor withdrew entirely. Trump commuted Stone's sentence days before Stone was to report to prison; he issued a full pardon seven months later.

Sources
4
StonepardonobstructionRussiafirst-term
Updated December 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Roger Stone: Convicted of Seven Felonies, Sentence Commuted, Then Pardoned

Stone was charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, when he served as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic emails. He also threatened a witness — radio personality Randy Credico, whom he called a 'rat' and threatened to harm his therapy dog — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's testimony. The jury of twelve convicted Stone on every count after deliberating for two days. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after the Justice Department overrode their sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years with a more lenient one, following Trump's tweet calling the original recommendation 'very unfair.' The federal judge sentenced Stone to 40 months.

Sources
4
StoneMuellerfirst-termrule-of-lawWikiLeaks
Updated December 23, 2020 Corruption & Self-Dealing
Major Abuse of Power

Paul Manafort: Bank Fraud, Tax Fraud, Ukraine Lobbying — Convicted and Pardoned

Manafort received over $65 million to manage political campaigns for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Ukrainian president later forced from office and who fled to Russia. Manafort hid the income in offshore accounts and spent lavishly while lying on tax returns and bank loan applications. Mueller's investigation documented that Manafort had also shared internal Trump campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian political consultant assessed by the U.S. Senate to have ties to Russian intelligence — data sharing that occurred during the period when Russia was conducting its interference operation.

Sources
4
ManafortUkraineRussiacorruptionfirst-term
Updated November 25, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Michael Flynn: National Security Adviser Lied to FBI, Trump Pressured Comey, Flynn Pardoned

Flynn's conversations with Kislyak on December 29, 2016 — the day President Obama announced sanctions against Russia for election interference — were intercepted by U.S. intelligence. Flynn told Pence the conversations had not touched on sanctions; Pence publicly repeated that claim. After the Washington Post reported Flynn had indeed discussed sanctions, Flynn resigned. On January 27, 2017, Trump told Comey at a one-on-one dinner that he hoped Comey could let the Flynn investigation go. Comey did not drop it. Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017. Flynn pleaded guilty December 1, 2017. His cooperation with Mueller provided significant intelligence about the transition period. Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, after Flynn had withdrawn his guilty plea.

Sources
4
FlynnComeyfirst-termrule-of-lawMueller