...President Trump has ended his term in office in a very appropriate way for him " by handing out pardons to some of his close associates and supporters for corruption crimes.
Perhaps the most notable of these pardons was the one given to Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign CEO and White House chief strategist, announced late Tuesday night. Bannon was awaiting trial for fraud charges " specifically, he was charged with defrauding donors to a crowdfunding campaign promising to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. Yes, that means Trump pardoned Bannon for allegedly defrauding Trump's own supporters....
The big picture, though, is that Trump has brazenly used the pardon power to shield his associates from consequences for criminal wrongdoing in a way no president has for decades. ...
In December, Trump had already pardoned two former Republican members of Congress convicted of corruption crimes, Chris Collins of New York (securities fraud) and Duncan Hunter of California (campaign finance violations).
This week, he added three more former Republican members of Congress to that list, granting clemency to Rick Renzi of Arizona (who was convicted of extortion, campaign finance violations, and money laundering), Robin Hayes of North Carolina (who was connected to a plot to bribe the state insurance commissioner), and Duke Cunningham of California (who received more than $2 million in bribes).
There's also Broidy, the defense company executive, GOP donor, and former RNC finance committee member who Trump pardoned Tuesday, who had been under investigation throughout Trump's presidency. ...
[emphasis mine]
... and the list goes on and on...
