The pardons of the ex-contractors involved in the killings of Iraqi civilians drew rebukes from civil rights groups in particular. The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, called it an unconscionable act of moral insanity.
The four ex-contractors worked for Blackwater, a firm founded by Erik Prince, one of Trump s allies and the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos The idea of the pardon power is really to address injustice and to either right wrongs or show mercy when that’s appropriate, said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.