#Turkey #Pardon #Trump #Flynn #Snowden #Thanksgiving #Assange #Papadopoulos
There's a growing list of people seeking pardons from Donald Trump and expecting to be looked after by the president in his final weeks in office.
The names include the famous, infamous and anonymous: Tiger King Joe Exotic, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and a host of other figures tied to the president's 2016 campaign, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and a series of people convicted of nonviolent crimes as part of Jared Kushner's criminal justice reform.
President Trump's pardon of his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn sparked speculation that others could be next.
Particularly of interest are Manafort and two other former Trump campaign advisers, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos, who like Flynn were convicted in cases stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and making false statements in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. On December 17, 2019, he was sentenced to 45 days' jail and three years of probation.
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to FBI agents about the timing and the possible significance of his contacts in 2016 relating to U.S.–Russia relations and Trump's campaign. He served twelve days in federal prison, then was placed on a 12-month supervised release.
Both have ties to Manafort, who is serving time after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and witness tampering. He is on home confinement due to the coronavirus.
'The president knows how much those of us who worked for him have suffered, and I hope he takes that into consideration if and when he grants any pardons,' Gates told The New York Times.
Also in Trump's circle are are Steve Bannon, his former White House counselor who was indicted in August on charges of defrauding donors regarding a campaign to help fund Trump's goal to build a wall along the border with Mexico, and Elliott Broidy, a top GOP fund-raiser, who pleaded guilty last month in a foreign lobbying case.
But attorneys and others who have been in touch with the White House told The New York Times they anticipate the president will use his power to pardon in cases that extend beyond those involving Mueller's inquiry and the lengthy cast of aides and associates who have gotten in legal trouble since he first ran for the White House.
Several groups are working with Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, with a goal of announcing as many as hundreds of commutations for offenders now in jail for crimes ranging from nonviolent drug convictions to mail fraud and money laundering.
'Lists of people are being circulated,' Brandon Sample, a Vermont lawyer who specializes in presidential pardons and has submitted several names of people to be considered told The Times.
Others seeking a pardon include Joseph Maldonado-Passage, the former Oklahoma zoo owner who is better known as Joe Exotic, who starred in the Netflix documentary ‘Tiger King.’
He is one year into a 22-year sentence for trying to hire a hit man to kill an animal-rights activist. His team has been trying to catch Trump’s attention through appearances on Fox News and a visit to the Trump International Hotel in Washington where they ran up a tab of about $10,000.
In April, Trump said he would ‘take a look at’ a pardon for the so-called Tiger King.
After he pardoned Flynn, Trump shared a tweet on Wednesday from Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of his closest allies on Capitol Hill, who said the president should also consider a pardon for himself.
'President Trump should pardon Flynn, the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to,' Gaetz wrote.
There have been questions about whether Trump would pardon himself from any possible federal investigations into his business activities and taxes, which would not absolve him from any probes from New York state officials.
Legal scholars doubt the constitutionality of such a move and many think the Supreme Court would strike it down.
And President-elect Joe Biden told NBC's Lester Holt he would not push his own Justice Department to go after Trump, with some Democrats calling for probes.
Biden said: 'I will not do what this president does and use the Justice Department as my vehicle to insist that something happen.'
Before his pardon of Flynn, Trump had granted 28 pardons, which wipe out convictions, and 16 commutations, which reduce prison sentences.
Many of those who benefited are those associated with Trump, including Roger Stone, who 40 month prison sentence was commuted by the president; conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who was pardoned by Trump after being convicted of an illegal campaign contribution in a Senate race; and Wall Street executive Michael Milken
