World News – CA – Donald Trump apologizes 15, commutes 5 sentences including GOP ally

Trump’s actions in his final weeks in office show a president exercising executive power to reward loyalists and others whom he believes have been violated by a legal system that he considers biased against him and looks at his allies

WASHINGTON:
President Donald Trump has pardoned 15 people, including a pair of Republicans in Congress who were strong and early supporters, a 2016 campaign official involved in the Russia investigation, and former government companies convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.

Trump’s actions in his final weeks in office show a president exercising executive power to reward loyalists and others whom he believes have been violated by a legal system he believes is biased against him and his allies. On Tuesday, Trump issued the pardon – not an uncommon act for an outgoing president – despite refusing to share his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, who died on Jan.. January is sworn in to be publicly recognized. 20th.

Trump will likely issue more pardons by then. He and his allies have discussed a number of other options, including members of Trump’s family and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

Former Republican representatives were among those pardoned on Tuesday. Duncan Hunter from California and Chris Collins from New York, two of the earliest GOP lawmakers to support Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Trump also converted the sentences of five other people, including the former representative. Steve Stockman from Texas.

Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump as president, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison after admitting that he helped his son and others suffer 800 stock market losses. Dodging $ 000 when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed.

Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing campaign funds and spending the money on everything from outings with friends to his daughter’s birthday party.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the pardon for Hunter and Collins was « granted at the request of many members of Congress. « She noted that Hunter served the nation in the U. ». S.. . Marines and saw fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the group announced on Tuesday evening, four former government contractors were convicted of a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians and sparked international riot over the use of private security forces in a war zone.

Supporters of Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard, the former Blackwater Worldwide contractors, had campaigned for pardons, arguing that the men had been excessively punished in an investigation and prosecution they said they have been stricken with problems and withheld exculpatory evidence. All four were serving long sentences.

The pardons reflected Trump’s apparent willingness to dispel doubts among American service members and contractors when it comes to acts of violence against civilians in war zones. For example, last November he pardoned a former U.. S.. . Army command due to stand trial next year to kill a suspected Afghan bomb maker and a former army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to shoot three Afghans.

Trump also announced pardons for two people implicated in Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. One of them was campaign advisor for 2016, George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about a conversation in which he learned that Russia had defiled Trump’s Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The president also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators during the Mueller investigation.

Van der Zwaan and Papadopoulos are the third and fourth defendants in the Russian investigation to be pardoned. With the pardon, Trump once again targeted Mueller’s investigation and went to greater lengths to reverse the results of the investigation, which uncovered criminal charges against half a dozen employees.

The pardons have been criticized by top Democrats. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. The House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Intelligence, chairman, said the president was abusing his power.

« Trump does not distribute pardons on the basis of repentance, redress, or interests of justice, but rather to reward his friends and political allies, to protect those who lie, to cover up him, to protect those who are guilty are to have killed civilians and to undermine an investigation that uncovered massive wrongdoing, « said Schiff.

Last month, Trump pardoned former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI, and reversed the verdict of another employee, Roger Stone, months earlier, days before reporting to jail should.

Trump granted about 2% of the pardons requested during his tenure – just 27 before the announcement on Tuesday. For comparison: Barack Obama granted 212 or 6% and George W.. . Bush granted about 7%, or 189. George H. . W.. . Bush, another one-year-old president, turned in 10% of the proposals.

Among those on Trump’s pardon was Phil Lyman, a Utah state representative who led an ATV protest through restricted states.

Lyman served as the Utah County Commissioner in 2014 when he led about 50 ATV drivers in a canyon to Native American cliff dwellings that have been closed to motorized traffic by officers. The ride came amid a stuttering movement in the west that was pushing against federal government control of large tracts of land, and came after an armed confrontation that Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy had with the Bureau of Land Management over pasture fees.

Lyman spent 10 days in jail and nearly 96. Pay $ 000 in restitution. The Trump administration lifted a ban on motorized vehicles in parts of the canyon in 2017, but left restrictions in place in other areas where Lyman directed his drive.

Two former U. . S.. . Border guards were also pardoned, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, convicted in 2005 of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso, Texas.

Others on the list were a Pittsburgh dentist who pleaded guilty to health fraud, two women convicted of drug crimes, and Alfred Lee Crum, now 89, who pleaded guilty in 1952 when he was 19 years old was to help his wife’s uncle illegally distill moonshine.

Crum served three years probation and was fined $ 250. The White House said Crum had had a clean record and a strong marriage for nearly 70 years, attended the same church for 60 years, raised four children and regularly participated in fundraising drives for charities.

Click here to read that Mint ePaperMint is now in the Telegram. Join the Mint channel on your Telegram and stay up to date with the latest business news.

You have now subscribed to our newsletter. If you cannot find an email from our site, please check the spam folder.

Donald Trump, Republican Party, Chris Collins, pardon