President Donald Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a flurry of clemency action in the final hours of his White House term that benefited more than 140 people, including rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family.
The last-minute clemency, announced Wednesday morning, follows separate waves of pardons over the last month for Trump associates convicted in the FBI’s Russia investigation as well as for the father of his son-in-law. Taken together, the actions underscore the president’s willingness, all the way through his four years in the White House, to flex his constitutional powers in ways that defy convention and explicitly aid his friends and supporters.
Whereas pardon recipients are conventionally thought of as defendants who have faced justice, often by having served at least some prison time, the pardon for Bannon nullifies a prosecution that was still in its early stages and likely months away from trial in Manhattan, effectively eliminating any prospect for punishment.
Though other presidents have issued controversial pardons at the ends of their administration, perhaps no commander in chief has so enjoyed using the clemency authority to benefit not only friends and acquaintances but also celebrity defendants and those championed by allies.
Besides Bannon, other Trump family allies to get pardons were Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty last fall in a scheme to lobby the White House to drop an investigation into the looting of a Malaysian wealth fund, and Ken Kurson, a friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner who was charged last October with cyberstalking during a heated divorce.
Who else already got pardons?
Former Rep. Chris Collins
Collins, a Republican from New York, was sentenced to serve two months in federal prison after he admitted to helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company had failed. He was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump’s presidency.
Former Rep. Duncan Hunter
Hunter, a Southern California Republican, was sentenced in March to 11 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to stealing about $150,000 from his campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, from vacations to outings with friends, private school tuition and his daughter’s birthday party.
George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos (details below)
Alexander van der Zwaan
Papadopoulos and van der Zwaan were both convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Papadopoulos was the first Trump aide to plead guilty as part of Mueller's investigation – pleading guilty to lying to the FBI – and served a nearly two-week sentence in federal prison. He was a foreign policy adviser to Trump's campaign and admitted lying about a 2016 conversation with a Maltese professor who told him that Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of stolen emails. He had learned from the professor, Joseph Mifsud, that Russia had thousands of stolen emails during a meeting in April 2016 in London. That revelation helped trigger the FBI's counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, which later morphed into part of Mueller's probe.
Van der Zwaan was a Dutch lawyer who was fired from a prominent international law firm and admitted he lied to federal investigators about his interactions with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates, who was also charged in Mueller's investigation. Van der Zwaan had been sentenced to 30 days in prison
He and Papadopoulos became the third and fourth defendants in the Russia probe to be granted clemency.
Former Rep. Steve Stockman
The former Texas Congressman was convicted of conspiring to bilk at least $775,000 from conservative foundations that intended the donations for charities and voter education. Prosecutors said Stockman, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until 1997, and from 2013 until 2015, misused donations from the foundations for personal and political use. He failed in his 2014 bid for the U.S. Senate. The White House said Stockman had contracted coronavirus while in federal prison and has served more than two years of his 10-year sentence. Officials said he will still be required to serve some time under supervised release and pay about $1 million in restitution.
Phil Lyman
Lyman, a Republican from Utah who currently serves as a state representative, served 10 days in prison after he led a protest of about 50 ATV riders in a canyon home to Native American cliff dwellings that officials closed to motorized traffic. It came amid a push against federal control of large swaths of land and happened in the wake of an armed confrontation that Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy had with Bureau of Land Management over grazing fees. The Trump administration in 2017 lifted a ban on motorized vehicles in parts of the canyon but left restrictions in place through other areas where Lyman led his ride.
Judith Negron (pictured), Crystal Munoz and Tynice Nichole Hall
Munoz, Negron and Hall had received executive clemency earlier this year and their cases represent the flood of requests that presidents typically receive.
The president commuted the remainder of Crystal Munoz's sentence after granting her clemency in October. She had served 12 years of a 20-year prison sentence on a drug conspiracy charge after being convicted for her role in a marijuana smuggling ring. She contended her only role was drawing a map others allegedly used in moving the drugs from Mexico to Texas and that her lawyer failed to adequately defend her. She had been on federal supervised release before Tuesday's commutation.
Negron had been serving 35 years at a Florida prison for health care fraud, conspiracy and money laundering when she was released in October. On Thursday, the president commuted the remainder of her term of supervised release.
Hall was convicted of drug charges and the White House said she served nearly 14 years of an 18-year sentence for allowing her apartment to be used to distribute drugs. Officials said Hall taught prison education programs to other inmates.
Their cases had been championed by criminal justice reform advocates like Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence Trump commuted in 2018 at the urging of reality TV star Kim Kardashian West and whose story Trump's reelection campaign featured in a Super Bowl ad.
Philip Esformes
The former Florida health care executive was convicted on 20 criminal counts in what prosecutors described as a $1 billion Medicare fraud scheme, one of the biggest such cases in U.S. history. The wealthy Miami Beach businessman operated a network of nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida and was found guilty of paying kickbacks and bribes to doctors and administrators so they would refer patients to his businesses. Esformes' prison sentence was commuted by the president on Tuesday, but other aspects of his sentence, including supervised release and millions in restitution, remained intact. The White House said the commutation was supported by a number of former attorneys general and said Esformes is in declining health.
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean
Trump granted full pardons to Ramos and Compean, former U.S. Border Patrol agents who were convicted of shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler near El Paso, Texas in 2005. Investigators said the agents never reported the shooting and tried to cover it up. They were convicted of assault and firearm charges and a judge in 2006 sentenced Ramos to 11 years in prison and Compean to 12 years. They were freed in 2009 after then-President George W. Bush commuted their sentences.
Weldon Angelos
Angelos was 24 years old when he was sentenced in 2004 to 55 years in prison for bringing guns to marijuana deals, a sentence a federal judge was forced to impose because of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. He had no criminal record before he was convicted of selling $350 worth of marijuana to a police informant three times and prosecutors argued he was a gang member who carried a gun during two of those deals, though he was not accused of using or showing a weapon. The music producer was freed from prison in 2016. Utah Sen. Mike Lee petitioned former President Barack Obama to grant clemency to Angelos, as did the former federal judge who sentenced Angelos. Obama did not commute Angelos' sentence but the man was instead released from prison after receiving a sentence reduction in court.
Otis Gordon
The pastor, convicted of drug possession charges, was issued a full pardon, supported by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. The White House said he became a pastor at Life Changer's International Ministries after his conviction, mentors at-risk kids and led a prayer session at the United States Capitol after the 2015 shooting at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Alfonso Costa
Costa is a dentist from Pittsburgh who pleaded guilty to a health care fraud charge related to false billing, served two years of probation and paid nearly $300,000 in fines and restitution. The White House said Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and former NFL football player Jerome Bettis had requested clemency for Costa and said Costa devoted much of his adult life to serving his community.
Alfred Lee Crum
The 89-year-old pleaded guilty in 1952 — when he was 19 — to helping his wife's uncle illegally distill moonshine. He served three years of probation and paid a $250 fine. The White House said Crum, of Oklahoma, has maintained a clean record and a strong marriage for nearly 70 years, attended the same church for 60 years, raised four children, and regularly participated in charity fundraising events.
Nicholas Slatten
Blackwater guard Nicholas Slatten was a security contractor convicted in a mass shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Evan Liberty
Blackwater guard Evan Liberty was a security contractor convicted in a mass shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Paul Slough
Blackwater guard Paul Slough was a security contractor convicted in a mass shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007.
Dustin Heard
Blackwater guard Dustin Heard was a security contractor convicted in a mass shooting of Iraqi civilians in 2007.
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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.
Questionable pardons through history
George Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion
In the first test of the strength of the presidential pardon, George Washington issued a pardon to John Mitchell and Philip Weigel, two men convicted of treason in the “Whiskey Rebellion” of 1794.
Though Washington’s pardon went largely unchallenged by contemporaries like John Jay and Alexander Hamilton (who implemented the whiskey tax that caused the rebellion and urged Washington to act against the rebels), there was a debate on whether the right to issue a pardon should lie with the president or with Congress.
Andrew Johnson gives accomplices a pass
Samuel Arnold, Samuel Mudd and Edmund Spangler were accused as co-conspirators in John Wilkes Booth’s plan to assassinate Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Arnold was a surgeon who set Booth’s broken leg after he escaped from the Ford Theater and met with Booth at least once before he shot Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Mudd and Spangler respectively plotted with Booth in an aborted plan to kidnap Lincoln and helped Booth escape after the murder. A fourth conspirator, Michael O’Laughlen, was also prosecuted and died in a Florida prison.
In 1869, Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor, pardoned Arnold, Mudd and Spangler.
Woodrow Wilson will pardon for testimony
This defeat for the presidential pardon also served as a victory for freedom of the press. When the federal government called New York Tribune city editor George Burdick to testify in its investigation on whether employees of the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Custom House were leaking classified information, Burdick plead the Fifth. In an effort to get Burdick to testify, President Woodrow Wilson offered him a “full and unconditional pardon” from any wrongdoing, which Burdick promptly refused.
The Supreme Court upheld Burdick’s refusal, in accordance with former Chief Justice John Marshall’s definition of a pardon as a “a private, though official” action that could be “rejected by the person to whom it is tendered.”
Gerald Ford decides Richard Nixon is "not a crook"
Disgraced President Richard Nixon claimed he wasn’t a crook and his successor, Gerald Ford, made it official. After assuming the nation’s highest office following Nixon’s resignation in 1974, President Ford issued him a pardon, claiming that the impact on the country would be worse if Nixon were indicted on charges stemming from his role in the Watergate scandal.
Ford’s decision wasn’t met with rousing support; his press secretary resigned, and Ford lost his run for president to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Mark Felt gets a bye for breaking and entering
In 1980 Mark Felt (who’d later reveal himself as the Watergate informant known as Deep Throat) and Edward S. Miller were convicted of facilitating illegal searches of the homes of a group of Vietnam War protestors known as Weather Underground in 1972. The break-ins had previously been declared unconstitutional and didn’t lead to any arrests or captures.
Felt acknowledged that his actions were illegal and in violation of the Fourth Amendment, but maintained that they were necessary for the safety of the country.
Bush sweeps Iran Contra under the rug
Just before his term ended, President George H.W. Bush issued pardons to six government officials involved in the sale of weapons to Iranian terrorists against U.S. public policy, and the redirecting of funds from those sales to the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. Bush pardoned former Secretary of State Caspar Weinberger before he was to stand trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, as well as Robert McFarlane, Reagan’s national security adviser, who’d been sentenced to two years probation for withholding evidence.
Bush also handed down pardons to former Assistant Secretary of State Elliot Abrams and three CIA officials, who faced varying charges of perjury, withholding evidence and making false statements related to the Iran-Contra scandal. Despite being vice president at the time and claiming in his diary to have been “one of the few people that knew fully the details,” Bush 41 denied wrongdoing related to the scandal and refused to discuss it.
Marc Rich gets rich in exile ... then gets pardoned
Commodities broker Marc Rich took refuge in Switzerland to avoid charges of tax evasion, violating trade embargoes, racketeering and wire fraud. During his time abroad, he even briefly made a profit selling copper to the U.S. Mint, while occupying the No. 6 spot on the country’s “Most Wanted Fugitives” list.
After securing Jack Quinn, a lawyer and former counsel to President Bill Clinton, Rich appealed to Clinton for a pardon using testimonies from Israeli leaders about his generous contributions to political and artistic causes in the country. Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had also made donations to the Clintons and the Democratic Party totaling over $1 million. Under a veil of secrecy and questionable public relations tactics, Rich secured a pardon from Clinton just before George W. Bush was sworn in as the 43rd president.
The New York Times called the move “indefensible” a “shocking abuse of presidential power,” while the New Republic labeled the pardon as “Exhibit A of Clintonian sliminess.”
Bill Clinton shows some brotherly love
Any situation involving a president pardoning his little brother (whose Secret Service codename was “Headache”) is likely to raise eyebrows. And that’s exactly what happened when Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Roger’s record was wiped clean on his brother’s last day in office, but he hasn’t quite stayed out of trouble. In 2001, the younger Clinton was arrested for driving under the influence and was embroiled in legal issues throughout the 2010’s including a lawsuit claiming he was liable for an assault that happened in his home in 2011.
Way to go, Arpaio
In 2017 an Arizona court convicted police chief Joe Arpaio of criminal contempt of court after Arpaio failed to stop racially profiling and detaining illegal immigrants simply for not having documentation. Arpaio faced a fine and up to six months in jail but a month after his conviction, President Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio and expressed appreciation for Arpaio’s commitment to "protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration."
The president’s decision was widely criticized, even by members of the Republican Party, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake.
D'Souza gets a pardon over dinner
Dinesh D’Souza, a former Reagan adviser known for his incendiary anti-liberal opinions and conspiracy theories, pled guilty in 2014 to charges of using straw donors to contribute to a friend’s campaign. According to The New York Times, U.S. Attorney Pete Bharara recommended prison for D’Souza, but ultimately, D’Souza only received a $30,000 fine and five years of probation.
Trump’s pardon, which came in 2018, was controversial because initially, Trump claimed he wasn’t asked to pardon D’Souza and did so because he was “treated very unfairly.” D’Souza and other sources later said Sen. Ted Cruz had appealed for D’Souza’s pardon over dinner.
Trump was also believed to have pardoned D’Souza to get back at Bharara, a former adviser who became a staunch Trump opponent after he was fired.
Trump shows a new kind of self love
In the midst of the Mueller investigation into whether or not Russia interfered in the 2016 election, Trump asserted, via Twitter, that he could absolve himself of any wrongdoing.
“As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong,” the president said.
His lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani also said the president could probably pardon himself. But legal precedent isn’t on Trump’s side. According to a 1974 memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the president cannot pardon himself because, “no one may be a judge in his own case."
Forgiveness curries favor
More than one president has been accused of offering pardons in exchange for support. Warren G. Harding's administration is suspected to have exchanged pardons and political appointments for financial contributions. Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon are believed to have pardoned people involved with organized crime (Conrad Mann and Jimmy Hoffa, respectively) because of their ties to powerful political figures or willingness to support them.
