President Donald Trump continued his string of pardons on Wednesday, granting clemency to 29 people including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, adviser Roger Stone and Charles Kushner.
The pardons came a day after the President issued 15 pardons and commuted five sentences.
Manafort was Trump’s campaign manager in 2016, while Stone is the President’s longtime informal adviser and friend, The New York Times reported. Both were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller, went to trial and were convicted by juries of multiple crimes, CNN reported.
Trump also pardons Paul Manafort and Roger Stone. pic.twitter.com/CdRGoFElaO
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) December 24, 2020
Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Also on the list released on Wednesday was Margaret Hunter, the estranged wife of former Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, who was pardoned Tuesday. Both of them pleaded guilty to charges of misusing campaign funds for personal expenses.
>> President Trump issues 20 pardons
Manafort, 71, had been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for his role in the financial fraud scheme in the former Soviet Union, the Times reported. Stone, 68, had his 40-month prison term commuted earlier this year by Trump. He had been convicted on seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House inquiry into possible campaign coordination by the President with Russa, the newspaper reported.
Kushner, 66, pleaded guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, a single count of retaliating against a federal witness and one of lying to the Federal Election Commission, CNN reported. He served two years in prison before being released in 2006.
Trump grants clemency to 29 people, including Jared Kushner’s father, ex-campaign chair Paul Manafort and ex-adviser Roger Stone https://t.co/MlCPETwlT4
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 24, 2020
Kushner had been prosecuted by Chris Christie, who was then the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, according to CNN.
“He’s just burning it all down,” one adviser to the president anonymously told The Washington Post.
The adviser said the president has also discussed pardoning Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist, and Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, and will issue dozens more before he leaves office, the newspaper reported.
Cox Media Group
