President Trump plans to issue at least 100 pardons and commutations on his final full day in office Tuesday.
Trump has already issued several politically charged clemencies, with 49 pardons and commutations announced over the past two days. However, the overall number granted to date pales in comparison to other presidents in the past century.
So far, Trump has announced 94 acts of clemency with 26 pardons and 3 commutations issued Dec. 23. These included pardons for Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager, and political ally Roger Stone, both in connection with the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Trump also pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who was convicted of preparing false tax returns, witness retaliation, and lying to the Federal Elections Commission. A full list of the Dec. 23 clemencies was not available Wednesday night.
Trump also issued 15 pardons and 5 commutations on Dec. 22, including a full pardon to George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide, and lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, both of whom admitted lying to the FBI in the Mueller probe.
As of Nov. 23, Trump had granted clemency 44 times, including 28 pardons and 16 commutations. That’s the lowest total of any president since at least William McKinley, who served at the turn of the 20th century. Obama, by comparison, granted clemency 1,927 times during his eight-year tenure, including 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. The only modern president who granted clemency almost as infrequently as Trump is George H.W. Bush, who granted 77 pardons and commutations in his single term.
Trump has pardoned donors, friends, family and fellow crooks.
Obama pardoned petty criminals/drug dealers who he did not know personally. People who received the shorter end of justice., mostly black victims of harsh, discriminative laws.
As the pardon system was designed to do.