Behind Donald Trump’s grant of clemency for corrupt former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
On his final day in office, President Donald Trump pardoned 74 people and commuted the sentences of 70 others. Among those to whom Trump granted clemency was Kwame Kilpatrick, the former mayor of Detroit. Kilpatrick was serving the eighth year of a 28-year prison sentence the longest for a convicted public official in US history for two dozen crimes he committed while in office from 2002 to 2008.
Less than 24-hours after Trump commuted his sentence, Kilpatrick walked out of the Federal Corrections Institution in Oakdale, Louisiana. Although his sentence was reduced to one quarter of its original length, Kilpatrick’s conviction on March 11, 2013 after a six-month jury trial on racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion charges remains on the books.
Kwame Kilpatrick, 50, with father Bernard, 79 (Photo: Facebook) Kwame Kilpatrick, freed from prison last Wednesday by President Trump, was seen Sunday afternoon at his mother s home in Griffin, Ga. The bearded ex-mayor looked thinner and grayer than when he headed to prison in 2013, reports Sarah Rahal of The Detroit News. Rahal writes about thge weekend gathering: The former Detroit mayor had been joined with friends and family at the home an hour south of Atlanta in a secluded neighborhood of Griffin, a small suburb surrounded by cattle and horse ranches. Located down a mile-long dirt road into a new-construction community, the single-story home purchased for $336,848 in 2019 by Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the matriarch and former U.S. representative, had vehicles stretched down the driveway and around the street. People gathered there enjoyed each other s company in a sunroom in the backyard.
Key people in Kwame Kilpatrick’s life and career: Where are they now?
The former Detroit mayor was released from prison Wednesday after sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump
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DETROIT – Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was officially released from prison Wednesday evening, serving only seven of his 28-year prison sentence before it was cut short.
Kilpatrick’s family declined to comment prior to his release following the news that his sentence was commuted by then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 19. In granting clemency, Trump called for prison officials to immediately release Kilpatrick.
Over the years, Local 4 has seen photos posted from Kilpatrick’s sons on social media as they visited their father in prison. His sons even came out with a campaign and song to free their father, also establishing a Free Kwame project website to raise money. It is unclear how much was raised and where the money will go now that he is free.
by Allan Lengel
Peter Karmanos Jr. (file photo) The final-day surprise of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick s clemency grant could have come far sooner, Metro Detroit businessman Peter Karmanos Jr. said Wednesday. I think they were thinking about doing it before the election to get votes, and then they thought it might lose votes, Karmanos said in an interview with Deadline Detroit on Wednesday in his downtown Birmingham office, just hours after the White House announced that President Trump had commuted Kilpatrick s 28-year sentence to time served. In the end, Karmanos, said the prevailing thought at the White House was: Why don’t we just do it in due course.