(Newswire.net — December 23, 2020) —
United States President Donald Trump has pardoned 15 people, amongst whom are two men who were convicted of lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russia during the 2016 presidential elections. Trump pardoned the two men on Tuesday although they pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Issuing pardons is not uncommon for a departing president, although Trump still isn’t accepting Biden’s win in the presidential race. Using the last weeks of his presidency to leave a lasting mark Trump went on a spree of pardons showing a president who is using his executive power to reward those loyal to him and help those who were wronged by the justice system, which he believes is biased towards him and his allies. There are likely to be more pardons leading up to Trump’s departure from office on January 20.
Among those who were pardoned are also four Blackwater guards who were convicted for their connection to the killings of Iraqi civilians in 2007. One of them is Nicholas Slatten, a Blackwater contractor, who was sentenced to life for the role he played in the deaths of 14 civilians.
George Papadopoulos, former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was probably the most notable pardon. Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in 2017 for making false statements to federal officials who were part of Mueller’s investigations, for which he served a 12 day prison sentence.
Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan was pardoned as well. Van der Zwaan also admitted to making false statements during Mueller’s investigation regarding a business associate who was said to be a Russian intelligence officer, and was sentenced in 2018 to 30 days in prison.
“Today’s pardon helps correct the wrong that Mueller’s team inflicted on so many people,” read a White House statement.
Two Republican congressmen were also pardoned, lawmakers Chris Collins and Duncan Hunter. Collins pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2019 and was serving a 26 month prison sentence, while Hunter was sentenced to 11 months for the misuse of campaign funds.