WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump used his final hours in office to wipe away convictions and prison sentences for a roster of corrupt politicians and business executives and bestow pardons on allies like Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, and Elliott Broidy, one of his top fundraisers in 2016.
The wave of clemency grants underscored how many of his close associates and supporters became ensnared in corruption cases and other legal troubles. Trump, however, did not pardon himself, family members or lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
The latest round of pardons and commutations — 143 in total — followed dozens last month, when Trump pardoned associates like Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. Bannon was under indictment on charges that he misused money he helped raise for a group backing Trump’s wall but had not yet gone to trial. Broidy pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws as part of a covert campaign to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.
Among others receiving pardons from Trump were three prominent Republicans who had served in the House before their convictions. They were Rick Renzi, who was sentenced in 2013 to three years in jail in association with a bribery scheme involving an Arizona land swap deal; Robert Hayes, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to lying to the FBI; and Randall Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors. The list also included rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted on weapons charges.
Trump’s decision to grant Bannon pardon is the latest twist in a complicated relationship that started during the 2016 campaign, fell apart during Bannon’s time as the White House’s chief strategist and was resurrected in recent months as Bannon encouraged Trump’s efforts to overturn the election.