Donald Trump’s reign as President of the United States officially ended on January 20. The controversial, polarizing character used his last few hours in office to pardon 73 people and commute the jail sentences of 70 others.
Alexander Hamilton proposed the clemency system in 1787 and it is no tradition for outgoing presidents to issue pardons and reduce prison sentences of US citizens. The president can act on federal crimes but not state crimes. Pardoning a person completely cancels their criminal conviction while a commutation reduces or ends a prison sentence.
Every president issues pardons during their tenure. Trump is no different in that respect although the Las Vegas hotel owner pardoned the fewest people since the practise began. Trump granted less than 1% of requests for clemency while in office. The 143 he granted it to on January 20 took his total to a mere 237.
Trump’s opponents accused him of abusing his constitutional powers to benefit people close to him. Several of the people pardoned during his reign as president are considered friends, extended family, or at the very least, close allies.
Trump Pardons His Allies
For example, Trump issued a pardon to Steve Bannon, one of his former key advisers and strategists during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) discovered Bannon received more than $1 million via a non-profit organization under his control. The funds stemmed from the building of a physical border with Mexico. Bannon faces no charges following Trump’s pardon.
Anthony Levandowki is another person pardoned in Trump’s parting shot. Levandowski, a former Google engineer, faced 18-months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing trade secrets from Google’s self-driving car operations before he took a role with Uber. Billionaire Peter Theil, a major contributor to Trump’s 2016 race for the White House hot seat, campaigned for Levandowski’s pardon.
Trump granted a pardon to Levandowski with the White House noting, “Me Levendowski has paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good. That may be the case eventually but Levandowski has since founded his own self-driving car company and established a church of artificial intelligence that experts are calling a cult.
Ken Kurson is a friend of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged with cyberstalking during a divorce. It shouldn’t be surprising that this friend of the family has now been pardoned.
Some of the More Bizarre Pardons and Commutes
It is easy to see why Trump would help those people close to him, even if it is against the spirit of the practise. Some of the pardons and commutes, however, are so left field that only Trump knows why he issued them.
Dwayne Carter, better-known as rapper “Lil Wayne” is one such weird pardon. Carter faced up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to firearm offenses following a private flight from California to Florida. As a convicted felon, Carter isn’t allowed to carry a loaded weapon. He was arrested in December 2019 and posted a photograph of himself and Trump in October 2020 stating it was “a great meeting”. Trump pardoned Carter in one of his last acts as president.
One of Carter’s fellow rappers, Bill K. Kapri, known in the industry as Kodak Black, is a free man after Trump commuted his jail sentence. Kapri was jailed for three years 10 months in August 2019 for firearm offenses, but is now free to walk the streets again.
Michael O’Harris is another convicted felon who is set for early release. The co-founder of the infamous Death Row Records label, which signed the likes of 2pac, Snoop Dogg, and Marion “Suge” Knight, has served 32-years of a sentence spanning more than 40 years. O’Harris is a convicted cocaine trafficker who was also charged with attempted murder. For reasons only known to the outgoing president, Trump ended O’Harris’ sentence early.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is disgusted with some of the pardons. He exclaimed, “That God we have only 12 more hours of this den of thieves” as the list of pardons became clear.
