President Donald Trump is expected to pardon or commute the sentences of about 100 people in his final days in office this week, according to multiple reports.
What You Need To Know
- President Donald Trump is expected to pardon or commute the sentences of about 100 people in his final days in office this week, according to multiple reports
- Trump held a meeting Sunday to finalize the list, the reports said; an announcement is expected Monday or Tuesday
- It’s not yet known which names will be on the list, but CNN reported it could include white-collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others.
- The president’s aides have advised him to forego a self-pardon, some believing it would appear to be an admission of guilt, according to reports
Trump held a meeting Sunday to finalize the list, the reports said. His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner were among the aides who participated in the meeting, The Washington Post reported.
It’s not yet known which names will be on the list, but CNN reported it could include the likes of white-collar criminals, high-profile rappers, and others. About 14,000 people have filed petitions for pardons and commutations, The Post reported.
An announcement by the White House is expected Monday or Tuesday. President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in at noon Eastern time Wednesday.
There has been much speculation about whether Trump might attempt to preemptively pardon himself and his adult children. They are not known to be under federal investigation, but Trump could potentially be criminally charged with inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, obstructing Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and making “hush-money” payments regarding allegations of adultery.
It’s not entirely clear whether a president can issue a self-pardon. No president has ever tried it, and the matter has never been heard by the courts. A 1974 Justice Department memo, however, concluded that a presidential self-pardon would be unconstitutional.
The president’s aides have advised him to forego a self-pardon, some believing it would appear to be an admission of guilt, the reports said. One White House official told CNN that no paperwork has been drawn up to pardon the president. ABC News has also previously reported that the president has been advised not to pursue a self-pardon.
Spectrum News has reached out to the White House for comment.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is not believed to be on the list, CNN reported. It’s not yet known whether former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon or Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, will receive pardons. Bannon was arrested in August and charged with defrauding donors who gave money to a fundraising campaign for a southern border wall. Federal prosecutors were reportedly last year looking into whether Giuliani violated foreign lobbying disclosure laws while he was in Ukraine digging for dirt on Biden. The former New York City mayor could also face criminal exposure in connection with the Capitol riot — he told the pro-Trump crowd during a speech shortly before, “Let’s have trial by combat.”
Trump’s closest advisers have urged the president not to pardon anyone who was involved in the assault on the Capitol, according to CNN.
“There are a lot of people urging the President to pardon the folks who participated in defiling the Capitol, the rioters,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, told Fox News on Sunday, adding, “to seek a pardon of these people would be wrong. I think it would destroy President Trump, and I hope we don’t go down that road.”
Trump has granted clemency to 94 people so far during his presidency, including 49 the week before Christmas. That wave of pardons included his former national security adviser Michael Flynn; his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort; former campaign aide George Papadopoulos; his longtime confidant Roger Stone; Jared Kushner’s father, Charles; four former guards for Blackwater; and three corrupt former members of Congress.