Trump preparing another 100 pardons, commutations: Reports
US President Donald Trump is reportedly prepared to issue around 100 pardons and commutations on Tuesday, before leaving the White House on Wednesday when Joe Biden will swear-in as the new president.
The new series of presidential clemency actions will include white collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others, amid reports that the outgoing president is probably pardoning people and corporations for money.
CNN first reported that some pardons are aimed at advocating for criminal justice reform, as well as controversial pardons for political allies.
Trump held a meeting with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and other advisers on Sunday to review a long list of pardon requests, according to The Washington Post.
People lobbying on behalf of pardon-seekers have reportedly paid allies of Trump tens of thousands of dollars for clemency.
"Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favors for people he thinks will owe him," one source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Last month, Trump pardoned four Blackwater mercenaries who were convicted of killing at least 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
The four guards – Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, Dustin Heard and Nicholas Slatten -- were part of an armored convoy that opened fire indiscriminately on a crowd of unarmed people in Nisour Square in Baghdad.
The pardons unleashed a wave of condemnation from human rights groups as well as Iraqi officials.
Human Rights Watch has said Trump’s action is an “insult to justice” and the victims.
“We are deeply concerned by the recent US presidential pardons for four security guards from the private military firm Blackwater who were convicted for killing 14 Iraqi civilians,” UN human rights spokesperson Marta Hurtado said in a statement.
“These four individuals were given sentences ranging from 12 years to life imprisonment, including on charges of first-degree murder,” she said. “Pardoning them contributes to impunity and has the effect of emboldening others to commit such crimes in the future.”
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