Trump to issue 100 pardons and commutations on last day of presidency: CNN

• President Donald Trump plans to pardon or commute the sentences of 100 people on his last day in the White House, CNN reported.
• The list was drawn up at a meeting Sunday between Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and other aides, and will likely be released to the public on Monday or Tuesday, the Washington Post reported.
• Some allies believe Trump expects many of these pardons and commutations after the presidency, CNN reported, citing a source: “He likes to do favors for people he thinks he owes him.”
• The list of pardons and commutations could include Dr. Salomon Melgen, an ophthalmologist convicted of medical fraud, and rapper Lil Wayne.
• The list should not include himself, CNN said, although the president is considering forgiving himself and his family.
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President Donald Trump plans to pardon or relocate up to 100 people on his last full day in office, CNN reported.

A list of names was compiled by Trump on Sunday in a meeting with Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and a number of other aides, the Washington Post reported.

The decisions are expected to be announced on Monday or Tuesday, The Post reported.

While the identity of the 100 people is not known, some of the president’s allies believe that many of the pardons or commutations will go to people he hopes to benefit from in the future, CNN said.

“It’s all a transaction. He likes pardons because it’s one-sided. And he likes to do favors for people he thinks he owes him,” a source told CNN.

Trump is expected to leave the White House on the morning of January 20 – the inauguration day of President-elect Joe Biden – and relocate permanently to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

After that, Trump would consider relaunching his television career, building a $ 2 billion presidential library, launching a television or social media network, or running for president again in 2024.

Anna Moneymaker-Pool / Getty Images

And in the final months of his presidency, Trump was inundated with apologies, including from “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic and “Q-Anon Shaman” Jacob Anthony Chansley.

However, a grace may not be cheap.

On Sunday, The New York Times reported that an aide to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, told a former CIA officer that a pardon “would cost $ 2 million.” Giuliani told The Times he doesn’t remember the meeting.

Trump has discussed a pardon for Giuliani with advisers, The Times reported in early December.

Read more: Biden inauguration raises tens of millions of dollars but won’t say how he spends the money

Although the identity of the 100 people is still unknown, CNN reported that Dr Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist who is currently in prison after being convicted of health care fraud, is expected to be one of those who have obtained clemency.

Bloomberg reported last week that rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, who are both currently facing jail time for criminal offenses, are also being considered for a pardon.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Senior Advisor Stephen Miller, Director of Personnel John McEntee and Director of Social Media Dan Scavino were also under consideration, the outlet said.

For weeks it was said that Trump was considering a pardon for himself and his immediate family, but a source told Reuters the president was not planning to do so on Sunday.

Neither Trump, his family members, nor his top aides have been charged with a crime, but it is possible for a president to issue preventive pardons.

Getty Images / Johnny Lewis

According to CNN and Reuters, aides have tried for weeks to dissuade the president from granting himself a preventive pardon, saying it would make him appear guilty.

Trump has granted a multitude of pardons and commutations since his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

On December 22, Trump pardoned 20 people, including two Trump campaign associates who were trapped in the FBI’s Russia investigation, two border patrol agents accused of shooting an unarmed immigrant and four former Blackwater guards who were convicted of killing Iraqi civilians.

The next day he pardoned longtime GOP strategist Roger Stone, his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner’s father Charles, and a former K-9 cop who placed his police dog on a sans- unarmed shelter in 1995.

Last week, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for his role in inciting a group of his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in an attack that killed five people.

Trump is now facing a Senate trial, members of which could vote to prevent him from taking federal office again.