XPost: alt.fan.sean-hannity, talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: alt.war.civil.usa   
   From: sflibertarian@sfchronicle.com   
      
   President Trump continued his pre-Christmas forgiveness blitz on   
   Wednesday, pardoning his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort,   
   his longtime associate Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, the   
   father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.   
      
   Both Manafort, 71, and Stone, 68 — whose sentence Trump had   
   already commuted in July — were convicted as a result of   
   investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.   
      
   Trump has now pardoned four people convicted in special counsel   
   Robert Mueller’s probe including former national security   
   adviser Michael Flynn and 2016 campaign aide George   
   Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.   
      
   Manafort, a longtime Republican aide and lobbyist, had been   
   sentenced to seven years in prison for tax fraud and other   
   crimes relating to his work in Ukraine. The White House said   
   that Manafort’s convictions were “premised on the Russian   
   collusion hoax.”   
      
   He was released from prison in May because of coronavirus   
   concerns and was under home confinement. He thanked the outgoing   
   president in a tweet, writing that “words cannot fully convey   
   how grateful we are” and praising his administration.   
      
   Stone was convicted in November 2019 of lying to lawmakers also   
   investigating Russian election interference and was spared a   
   three year and four month prison stint when Trump commuted his   
   sentence a day before he was due to begin serving time.   
      
   “Due to prosecutorial misconduct by Special Counsel Mueller’s   
   team, Mr. Stone was treated very unfairly,” the White House said   
   in a statement.   
      
   Kushner, 60, a wealthy New Jersey real estate developer who   
   Trump knew from industry circles, was convicted in 2005 of   
   illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness   
   tampering as part of a salacious family scandal. His son Jared,   
   a Trump adviser, married first daughter Ivanka Trump in 2009.   
      
   In a 2004 plea agreement, Kushner admitted to hiring a   
   prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, filming the tryst and   
   sending the tape to his sister. The case, which was prosecuted   
   by then-US attorney Chris Christie, resulted in Kushner serving   
   two years behind bars.   
      
   In all, Trump granted full pardons to 26 people on Wednesday   
   night and commuted part or all of the sentences of three others,   
   the White House said.   
      
   Also on the list was Margaret Hunter, the estranged wife of   
   former US Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who was granted a   
   pardon on Tuesday. Both had pleaded guilty to stealing campaign   
   funds.   
      
   Several people convicted of non-violent drug crimes, including   
   some who served several years in prison, also received pardons.   
      
   Among them was Topeka Sam, a New York prison reform advocate   
   who, along with Kim Kardashian, had rallied for Trump to commute   
   the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson. Johnson, who had been   
   serving a 21-year sentence, was freed in 2018 and granted a full   
   pardon by Trump in August.   
      
   Trump also pardoned Rebekah Charleston, a former sex trafficking   
   victim from Texas who served 13 months in prison for tax evasion   
   and whose bid for clemency was supported by the officer who   
   arrested her.   
      
   His pardon spree began Tuesday night, when he granted clemency   
   to 20 convicted felons, including three former GOP congressmen,   
   four military contractors convicted in the massacre of 17 Iraqi   
   civilians in 2007 and two former Border Patrol agents who   
   covered up the shooting of an unarmed illegal immigrant.   
      
   Papadopoulos and Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, who lied to   
   investigators in the Mueller probe, were also granted clemency   
   Tuesday.   
      
   https://nypost.com/2020/12/23/trump-pardons-paul-manafort-roger-   
   stone-and-charles-kushner/   
            
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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