Former President Donald Trump granted clemency for 144 people on his way out the door Wednesday, including pardons for former White House strategist Steve Bannon and prominent Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy.
In orders released in the middle of the night, Mr. Trump pardoned 74 people and commuted the sentences of 70 others on crimes ranging from tax evasion to minor drug offenses. Mr. Bannon, former head of Breitbart News, was a late addition to the list after having helped advise Mr. Trump with his unsuccessful post-election fight to overturn the results for President Biden.
Mr. Bannon was facing a trial for allegedly defrauding donors who gave $25 million to a project to help Mr. Trump to build his border wall. The White House said in its reasoning for the pardon that “Mr. Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen.”
Mr. Broidy, a former top fundraiser for the Republican Party, pleaded guilty in October to illegally lobbying on behalf of a Malaysian businessman who wanted to stop a federal investigation into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. The White House said Mr. Broidy is “well known for his numerous philanthropic efforts, including on behalf of law enforcement, the military and veterans programs, and the Jewish community.”
Mr. Trump also granted a last-minute pardon to Albert Pirro Jr., the ex-husband of Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro, for his conviction on tax evasion. The pardon was announced after the others, less than an hour before Mr. Trump’s term ended at noon.
In November 2000, Mr. Pirro, at the time an influential GOP businessman in New York state, was sentenced to 29 months in federal prison. Jeanine Pirro was the district attorney in Westchester County, New York.
He was convicted of illegally deducting more than $1 million in personal expenses as business write-offs.
The couple divorced in 2013.
According to the Justice Department, Mr. Trump issued 116 pardons in four years, compared to the 212 granted by President Obama, 189 granted by President George W. Bush and 396 granted by President Clinton, who notoriously issued about 170 pardons on his last day in office. Mr. Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose wife had donated to Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign and to the Clinton presidential library, and also pardoned Whitewater figure Susan McDougal and his brother, Roger Clinton.
Mr. Trump didn’t grant clemency to fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, living in Russia, or WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Nor did he try to pardon himself or any family members, despite heavy speculation in the final days of his presidency.
“Donald Trump once again ignored Justice Department protocols and safeguards and instead wielded pardons to benefit himself, excuse injustice, and repay his unrepentant political cronies,” said Sen. Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat. “The Trump administration appears to have handed out pardons and commutations in an unseemly manner, based not on the merits of the case, but on the wealth, celebrity or personal and political connections of the recipients to Trump. Meanwhile, ordinary people who abided by the Justice Department’s clemency rules were denied consideration.”
Prior to Wednesday’s wave of clemencies, Mr. Trump had issued pardons for former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime friend and GOP operative Roger Stone and former National Security Adviser Gen. Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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