High-profile names notably absent from Trump s last minute pardons
Donald Trump has delivered more than 70 pardons in the final hours in office, with several high-profile names notably absent.
Mr Trump granted pardons included his former political strategist Stephen Bannon and US rapper Lil Wayne, who took a gold-plated handgun on a plane.
Those not on the list include Mr Trump s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Mr Trump s children or their spouses or Mr Trump himself.
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Controversial reality star Joe Tiger King Exotic and US whistleblower Edward Snowden also did not receive pardons.
Mr Giuliani s exclusion from the list may come as little surprise with reports Mr Trump s relationship with the former mayor of New York City souring after Mr Trump failed in his legal attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 US election.
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly used his clemency authority as a political tool rather than an act of mercy, issued a final wave of pardons and commutations on his last night in office, delivering relief for a mix of beneficiaries that included former strategist Stephen Bannon, Republican Party and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, found guilty in 2013 of corruption charges.
Donald Trump grants clemency to 144 people (not himself or family members) in final hours Kevin Johnson, David Jackson and Dennis Wagner, USA TODAY
President Trump grants clemency to 148 people, but not for himself or his family
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly used his clemency authority as a political tool rather than an act of mercy, issued a final wave of pardons and commutations during his final hours in office, delivering relief for a mix of beneficiaries that included former strategist Steve Bannon, Republican Party and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, found guilty in 2013 of corruption charges.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly used his clemency authority as a political tool rather than an act of mercy, issued a final wave of pardons and commutations during his final hours in office, delivering relief for a mix of beneficiaries that included former strategist Steve Bannon, Republican Party and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, found guilty in 2013 of corruption charges.
He granted pardons to 73 people and commuted the sentences of 70, according to a news release from the White House on Wednesday, before he pardoned one more roughly an hour before Joe Biden was sworn in as the new president.
How can a new president restore a sense of normalcy at a time nothing seems normal?
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. takes the oath of office Wednesday amid crises that rival the worst in American history, earning comparisons to Franklin D. Roosevelt s inauguration in 1933 during the Great Depression and as storm clouds gathered over Europe. Or Abraham Lincoln s inauguration in 1861 as seven Southern states seceded and the Civil War loomed.
But challenges can also be opportunities. Those earlier times of catastrophe forged pivotal moments and presidencies now heralded among the nation s most consequential. He s going to enter office at perhaps a more precarious time for our nation than we ve seen in the past 150 years, said David Barker, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University. That star-spangled banner still waves, but over, perhaps, a land of the cynical and a home of the scared.