Flynn asks who Trump could forgive next

President TrumpDonald John Trump Venezuela judge orders jail sentence for 6 U.S. oil executives Trump says he will leave White House if Biden is declared Electoral College winner The Memo: Biden faces tough road on engagement to heal the nation PLUSThanksgiving eve’s pardon to Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, raises questions about who else might gain clemency in the president’s final weeks in power.

Speculation over whether Trump would offer pardons to allies and supporters who have been convicted of federal crimes or face serious legal liability has long been a topic in Washington.

And the controversial move to pardon Flynn, who had pleaded guilty in federal court, quickly sparked rumors that there would be more Trump pardons to come.

Trump has often criticized the investigations into him and his administration as a “witch hunt.” He argued that Flynn in particular had been treated unfairly.

It is not uncommon for an outgoing president to issue massive pardons, although it can be controversial. Former President Clinton has come under heavy criticism after granting 140 pardons on the last day of his tenure, including for his own brother and a well-connected Democratic donor.

Even before Flynn’s news on Wednesday, Trump had already shown his willingness to grant pardons or commutations to supporters.

In July, he commuted the prison sentence from Roger stoneRoger Jason Stone DEFENSE FOR THE NIGHT: Trump forgives Flynn | Lawmakers blame decision | Pentagon denies Thanksgiving dining room due to COVID-19 Impeachment Democratic leaders blow up Trump’s forgiveness to Flynn Mueller Prosecutor says next attorney general should investigate Trump MORE, who was preparing to serve more than three years on charges of lying to Congress and tampering with witnesses arising from a former special advocate Robert muellerRobert (Bob) Mueller’s ToobinCNN warns McCabe is in a ‘perilous state’ with emboldened Trump CNN anchor tearing Trump apart on Stone while bringing up the Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting Hill’s 12:30 p.m. report: Fallout from the New Hampshire MORERussian investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Here are some numbers that could be in line for a presidential pardon.

Paul ManafortPaul John ManafortOn The Money: First jobless claims increase for second week | Dow Plunges Below 30K | Mnuchin fires fire for COVID-19 relief movement | Manhattan DA is appealing the dismissal of Manafort’s charges. Manhattan DA appeals Manafort’s charges dismissed to New York High Court How to tackle Putin’s financial assault READ MORE

Paul Manafort, who spent about two months as chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, is serving more than seven years in prison on various bank and federal tax fraud charges, which were also brought by Mueller’s team in order to obtain his cooperation with their investigation. .

Since his conviction in 2018, the question remains as to whether Trump would forgive him.

Minutes after Manafort’s second conviction by a Washington federal judge, the Manhattan district attorney filed similar criminal charges against him, an effort widely seen as a way to sidestep any pardon that former campaign president Trump receives for federal crimes.

In 2018, Trump said in an interview that Manafort’s forgiveness had not been addressed in the White House talks, but he would not rule it out.

“It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table,” Trump told the New York Post at the time. “Why would I take him off the table?”

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Before stepping away from the White House, Bannon served as CEO of Trump’s campaign in 2016 and later as chief strategist in the early days of the administration.

In August, Bannon and three others were indicted by the US District Attorney for the Southern District of New York for defrauding donors who donated money to a nonprofit organized to fund a private wall along the southern border.

Prosecutors allege that Bannon took a substantial amount of money collected for the wall for personal use.

Trump has distanced himself from Bannon over the past two years. When the indictment was announced in August, the president played down their relationship and downplayed the non-profit project at the center of the alleged scheme.

“I don’t like this project. I thought it was done for showboating reasons, ”Trump told reporters at the time. “It was something I found really inappropriate to do.”

Still, Bannon remained a staunch supporter of his former boss, who rewarded other staunch supporters with pardons or commutations, like Stone and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

George papadopoulosGeorge Demetrios Papadopoulos No Treason, No Crime – But Certainly Blatant Abuse of Power Two FBI Case Story: Clinton Told, Trump Investigated Trump Says He Would Consider Forgiving People involved in the Mueller PLUS investigation

Papadopoulos was a minor figure in the 2016 Trump campaign and received a relatively lenient sentence for his role in Russia’s efforts to interfere in the election, but his outspoken support for Trump and his being a target early in the Mueller inquiry could prompt the president to issue a lame duck pardon.

Papadopoulos was appointed one of the campaign’s foreign policy advisers in 2016. In 2018, he pleaded guilty and sentenced to 14 days in prison for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during his campaign, making him the first campaign. advise to be sentenced following the Mueller investigation.

In addition to the 14 days in prison, Papadopoulos was also sentenced to 12 months of supervised release.

Trump has given little indication of whether he is considering a pardon for Papadopoulos, who has already served his prison sentence, the one-time adviser perhaps the most outspoken on this list in his efforts to seek a reprieve to the president.

“There has been so much misinformation and misunderstanding about who George Papadopoulos is, how he actually fits in [Mueller’s investigation] in the right context and what he was doing for the Trump campaign and Trump’s transition team, ”Papadopoulos told CNN last year, saying lawyers submitted a formal request for a pardon.

“If I was offered one, I would accept it honorably,” he said.

Self-forgiveness

Biden’s election has many people questioning whether Trump will take the unprecedented – and potentially unconstitutional – step of forgiving himself.

Legal scholars generally believe that one of the few limits to the president’s pardon power is that he cannot forgive himself, but the issue has never been brought to court.

Still, that’s an open question given the significant legal responsibility Trump will be open to once he loses the immunity that comes with the Oval Office. Federal prosecutors in the Biden administration will have to decide whether or not to pursue investigations into the incumbent president.

No president has ever been charged with a crime after leaving office by a successor administration, but many Trump critics have pushed for him to be investigated for both his conduct in power and as a private businessman.

More than a thousand former federal prosecutors signed a letter last year claiming that the president’s conduct described in the Mueller report would justify obstructing justice charges in a typical case. Biden’s Justice Department will also have to decide whether to follow state and local investigations in New York City into Trump’s finances.

Even if a court decides Trump is in a position to forgive himself, it would not fully protect him from potential legal liability, as the pardon would not apply to state and local investigations conducted in his home state.

Trump has indicated he believes he has the power to give himself mercy.

“As many jurists have said, I have the absolute right to FORGIVE myself, but why would I do this when I haven’t done anything wrong?” Asset tweeted in 2018.