President Donald Trump issued 73 pardons and 70 commutations in the final hours of his presidency.<\/p>\n
Those who benefited from a long-standing presidential tradition of exercising clemency powers included Trump’s former political strategist and adviser Steve Bannon, who is facing fraud charges.<\/p>\n
Bannon was charged in August 2020 with fraud over a fundraising campaign to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty to charges. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the White House says “Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen”.<\/p>\n
Other controversial names in the list of pardoned included Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for Trump’s campaign, and rapper Lil Wayne, who expressed support for Trump’s campaign, and Anthony Levandowski, who led Google’s efforts to create self-driving technology<\/span>.<\/p>\n The former Google engineer who admitted stealing secret technology, received a full pardon from an 18 month sentence. The White House noted that Levandowski’s sentencing judge called him a “brilliant, groundbreaking engineer that our country needs.” <\/p>\n Multiple Grammy laureate Lil Wayne, also known as Dwayne Carter, pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession, and was facing up to 10 years in jail.<\/p>\n Trump granted commutations for rapper Kodak Black and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.<\/p>\n Kodak Black, whose original name is Bill K. Kapri, was arrested several times and faced gun, drug and sexual misconduct charges. But a White House press release only says he was sentenced to 46 months in prison “for making a false statement on a Federal document”.<\/p>\n Kilpatrick has served approximately 7 years in prison for his role in a racketeering and bribery scheme while he held public office. The White House said his commutation was “strongly supported by prominent members of the Detroit community”.<\/p>\n A pardon cancels a criminal conviction, while a commutation shortens or ends a prison sentence.<\/p>\n Grants of Clemency was the last executive action taken by Donald Trump during his presidency. <\/p>\n