Trump Pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Jared Kushner’s Father
President pardoned 26 people in second round of pardons in as many daysDaniel Goldblatt | December 23, 2020 @ 4:49 PM Last Updated: December 23, 2020 @ 4:56 PM
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced 26 new pardons, headlined by his good friend Roger Stone, his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Manafort and Stone were both indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller and convicted of several crimes related to the Russia investigation. Manafort served two years behind bars for bank and tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying and witness tampering and Stone had his sentence commuted by Trump just before he was due to begin serving his time.
“Due to prosecutorial misconduct by Special Counsel Mueller’s team, Mr. Stone was treated very unfairly,” the White House said. “He was subjected to a pre-dawn raid of his home, which the media conveniently captured on camera. Mr. Stone also faced potential political bias at his jury trial. Pardoning him will help to right the injustices he faced at the hands of the Mueller investigation.”
He had been convicted of obstructing Congress and threatening a witness.
The White House said Mr. Manafort, who spent nearly two years in prison for bank and tax fraud, illegal foreign lobbying and witness tampering, was a victim of “blatant prosecutorial overreach.”
Trump pardons Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and father of Jared Kushner Print this article
President Trump issued pardons to his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and to his longtime friend Roger Stone just before Christmas Eve, with the 26 new pardons and three additional commutations on Wednesday also including a full pardon to son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father.
Both Manafort and Stone had been swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, and both were found guilty of crimes not directly connected to allegations of Russian collusion against them. Trump had pardoned 15 other individuals, including former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, on Tuesday.
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Judging by Chris Cuomo’s comical stage-directed meltdown on CNN Wednesday night, you’d have thought President Trump had pardoned unrepentant terrorists, people who’d aided the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, traitors, or entire armies of bad actors. Note: he didn’t.
Cuomo’s TDS-infused rant about the president’s recent moves, including the newest pardons, was delivered with his typically unhinged, I’ll-jump-over-the-desk-and-strangle-you style. Cuomo didn’t need stage lighting his for-the-cameras incandescent fauxrage was enough to show the rant for what it was: just another Wednesday-night Olbermann-lite monologue. The only thing missing was a “You, sir … ”
President Trump Pardons Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and 24 Other Persons
President Trump has pardoned Roger Stone and Paul Manafort along with 24 other persons in a wave of clemency orders on Wednesday.
♦ Paul Manafort Today, President Trump has issued a full and complete pardon to Paul Manafort, stemming from convictions prosecuted in the course of Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, which was premised on the Russian collusion hoax. Mr. Manafort has already spent two years in prison, including a stretch of time in solitary confinement – treatment worse than what many of the most violent criminals receive.
As a result of blatant prosecutorial overreach, Mr. Manafort has endured years of unfair treatment and is one of the most prominent victims of what has been revealed to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American history. As Mr. Manafort’s trial judge observed, prior to the Special Counsel investigation, Mr. Manafort had led an “otherwise blameless life.” Sin