President Donald Trump granted 15 pardons and five commutations, in part or in full, of sentences on Christmas week, in a move that angered many Democrats and graced some of his oldest allies.
Some of those pardoned were swept up in the Russia probe, among them George Papadopolous, a former 2016 Trump campaign aide who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI. Unlike some figures in the 2016 campaign, Papadopolous has remained loyal to Trump.
The White House said of the pardon, “Today’s pardon helps correct the wrong that Mueller’s team inflicted on so many people.”
Trump also pardoned Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who previously worked with Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who was sent to prison for bank and tax fraud.
Also included in the pardon list were four Blackwater contractors who were convicted in 2007 of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians. One of those contractors was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The president also pardoned three former members of Congress. Among them is former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who was an early supporter of the president. Collins was sentenced to 26 months in prison after a conviction for insider trading while sitting on the board of an Australian biotech company.
Former Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) also received a presidential pardon. Hunter was sentenced to 11 months in prison in March of 2020 for campaign finance violations.
Former Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) had his sentence commuted. He was serving ten years behind bars after a 2018 conviction for misusing charitable funds.
The president also pardoned Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed immigrant in 2006 and covering it up. Both men had previously had their sentences commuted by former President George W. Bush.
Trump also pardoned Alfred Lee Crum who plead guilty in 1952 to a moonshining racket. Additionally, Weldon Angelos, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for dealing marijuana while carrying a handgun, was also pardoned. He also pardoned a Pittsburgh dentist who pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud, as well as a Utah County Commissioner who protested the Bureau of Land Management was pardoned.
The pardon list angered some Democrats like Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who said in an interview, “He is literally trying to burn the house of justice down on his way out the door. He’s saying ‘screw you’ to the FBI, ‘screw you’ to the line prosecutors.”
