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President Trump is expected to issue between 50 and 100 commutations and pardons before stepping down this week, two sources close to the list told Fox News.
The sources told Fox News that the announcement of the pardons would likely occur in one batch on Tuesday, but there is a slight chance the White House will wait to make them official on Wednesday morning. The president has until noon on Wednesday to do so.
TRUMP PROBLEMS A NEW WAVE OF FORGIVENESS, THREE SWITCHES
Fox News learned there was a White House meeting on Sunday afternoon to finalize the growing list of pardons and commutations.
Despite an aggressive campaign by WikiLeaks to try to obtain a pardon for its founder Julian Assange, the president should not give it.
The Justice Department has argued that Assange should stand trial on 18 charges, brought forward by the Obama administration in 2010, centered on conspiring to violate government computers and violate the law on it. ‘spying. The charges carry a maximum of 175 years in prison.
Fox News has also learned that rapper Lil Wayne is expected to be on the list, while former Trump partner Steve Bannon is described as “TBD”.
Lil Wayne, real name Dwayne Carter, pleaded guilty in 2020 in Federal District Court to illegal possession of a loaded gold-plated .45 caliber handgun while traveling in Florida on a jet private in 2019. The contents of Carter’s bag also included small amounts of cocaine, ecstasy and oxycodone, according to the US lawyer.
Bannon, a former Trump adviser and architect of his 2016 campaign, was arrested for fraud over the summer. Bannon pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court after being indicted along with three other people accused of defrauding donors as part of the online fundraising campaign known as “We Build the Wall” which raised $ 25 million.
Bannon, 66, has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Bannon was released on a $ 5 million bond.
PRESIDENT TRUMP GIVES SEVERAL HIGH-END PARDONS
The president issued a number of high-profile pardons and commutations during his administration.
Last month, the president pardoned former California GOP representative Duncan Hunter, who was sentenced to 11 months in prison and three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to bribery, as well as former GOP Representative Chris Collins, who was sentenced to 26 months in prison for securities fraud.
Trump also pardoned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who was convicted of making false statements during the Mueller inquiry.
The White House said on Tuesday that Papadopoulos had been charged with a “process-related crime” although “Mueller said in his report that he found no evidence of collusion in connection with Russia’s attempts to interfere in the elections “.
The president also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, who also pleaded guilty to lying to Mueller investigators and was sentenced to 30 days in prison.
And just before Christmas, the president pardoned more than two dozen other people – including his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort and advisor Roger Stone – who were both prosecuted and convicted in the Mueller investigation. .
Trump commuted Stone’s sentence in July, but granted him a full pardon last month.
Ahead of Thanksgiving, the president pardoned his former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who also twice pleaded guilty to making false statements in connection with Mueller’s investigation.
However, the charge came under close scrutiny after FBI documents were released suggesting a plot to make him lie.
“What is our goal?” read one of the FBI notes. “Truth / Admission or to make him lie, so we can sue him or get him fired?”
Following the revelations, Trump’s Justice Department decided to drop its case against Flynn, but ran into obstacles after the DC Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Flynn’s plea to force the judge District Officer Emmet Sullivan to drop his criminal case in August.
Also last month, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was convicted and sentenced to two years for preparing false tax returns, witness reprisals and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission; and Margaret Hunter, wife of former Congressman Hunter. Ms Hunter pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of conspiring to embezzle campaign funds for personal expenses and was sentenced to three years probation.
Marisa Schultz, Morgan Phillips, Lucas Manfredi, Julius Young, Hollie McKay and Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.
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