Trump cites advice from friends, allies in his spree of clemency

WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump, citing what he said was advice from friends and business associates, granted clemency on Tuesday to a who's who of white-collar criminals from politics, sports and business who were convicted on charges involving fraud, corruption and lies - including financier Michael Milken.

The President pardoned Milken, the so-called junk bond king of the 1980s, as well as former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik and Edward DeBartolo Jr, a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers.

He also commuted the sentence of former Democratic governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich.

Their political and finance schemes made them household names, and three received prison terms while DeBartolo paid a US$1 million (S$1.39 million) fine.

Mr Trump also pardoned David Safavian, a former top federal procurement official who had been sentenced in 2009 to a year in prison for lying about his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and obstructing the sprawling investigation into Abramoff's efforts to win federal business.

The President also granted clemency to six other people.

The clemency spree ran counter to Mr Trump's repeatedly stated commitment to prison reform and addressing the excessive sentences given to the minorities.

At the urging of celebrity Kim Kardashian West in 2018, he pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, an African-American woman serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. The 63-year-old Johnson was the centrepiece of a TV ad the Trump campaign ran this month during the Super Bowl.

But the President's announcements on Tuesday were mostly aimed at wiping clean the slates of rich, powerful and well-connected white men.

And they came after years of sophisticated public relations campaigns aimed at persuading Mr Trump to exercise the authority given to him under the Constitution.

Ms Patti Blagojevich, the wife of the former Illinois governor, frequently appeared on Fox News calling for Mr Trump to commute her husband's sentence. Kerik, a regular on Fox News, appeared on the network as recently as Monday night.

Milken has sought to rebrand himself as a philanthropist in recent years as allies campaigned on his behalf for a pardon.

In conversations with his advisers, Mr Trump has also raised the prospect of commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, his longtime adviser, who was convicted in November of seven felony charges, including tampering with a witness and lying under oath in order to obstruct a congressional inquiry into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Democrats pounced on Mr Trump's announcements. "Today, Trump granted clemency to tax cheats, Wall Street crooks, billionaires, and corrupt government officials," said Senator Bernie Sanders, the leading Democratic candidate for the presidency.

"Meanwhile, thousands of poor and working-class kids sit in jail for nonviolent drug convictions. This is what a broken and racist criminal justice system looks like."

Representative Bill Pascrell Jr said in a statement that the President abused the pardon power by using it to reward friends and repair the reputations of convicted felons who do not deserve it.

"The pardoning of these disgraced figures should be treated as another national scandal by a lawless executive," he said.

Mr Trump gave no indication that he relied on the usual vetting process that guides presidents making use of their constitutional authority to wipe away criminal convictions or commute prison sentences.

Traditionally, the pardons office in the Justice Department would make recommendations about pardons and commutations to the deputy attorney-general, who would weigh in and then pass the Justice Department's final determinations to the White House.

Instead, Mr Trump told reporters that he followed "recommendations" in making his decisions. Those recommendations, according to a White House statement, came from the President's longtime friends, business executives, celebrities, campaign donors, sports figures and political allies.

NYTIMES