WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump has granted clemency to two people who pleaded guilty in the inquiry into Russian meddling in his 2016 election victory, four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians and three corrupt former Republican members of Congress.
This prompted renewed criticism that Mr Trump has used his pardon power to protect political allies and could generate concern that he is undermining efforts at the Justice Department and the Pentagon to ensure cooperation with criminal investigations.
It was a remarkable assertion of pardon power by Mr Trump, who continues to dispute his loss in the presidential election and might well be followed by other pardons before he leaves office on Jan 20. In all, he granted full pardons to 15 people and commuted all or part of the sentences of five others.
One of the most notable pardons went to Mr George Papadopoulos, who was a foreign policy adviser to Mr Trump's 2016 campaign and pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to federal officials as part of the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2018 in connection with the special counsel's inquiry, was also pardoned.
Both he and Mr Papadopoulos served short prison sentences.
The Mueller-related pardons are a signal of more to come for people caught up in the investigation, according to people close to the President.
Mr Trump had already pardoned his first national security adviser, Mr Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty twice to charges including lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with the Russia inquiry.
Mr Trump's list of pardons on Tuesday included four former US service members who were convicted on charges related to the killing of Iraqi civilians while working as contractors for the private company Blackwater in 2007.
One of them, Mr Nicholas Slatten, had been sentenced to life in prison after the Justice Department went to great lengths to prosecute him.
Mr Slatten had been a contractor for Blackwater and was sentenced for his role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad - a massacre that left one of the most lasting stains of the war on the United States. Among those dead were two boys, aged eight and 11.
The three former members of Congress pardoned by Mr Trump were Mr Duncan Hunter of California, Mr Chris Collins of New York and Mr Steve Stockman of Texas.
Mr Hunter was set to begin serving an 11-month sentence next month. He pleaded guilty last year to one charge of misusing campaign funds.
Mr Collins, an early supporter of Mr Trump, had been serving a 26-month sentence after pleading guilty last year to charges of making false statements to the FBI and conspiring to commit securities fraud.
Mr Stockman was convicted in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering and had been serving a 10-year sentence.
Mr Trump also pardoned two Border Patrol agents who were convicted of covering up the 2005 shooting of a drug dealer on the US-Mexico border. The sentences of both men had already been commuted by then President George W. Bush in 2009.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, responded swiftly to the announcement of the pardons. "Lie to cover up for the President? You get a pardon. Corrupt politician who endorsed Trump? You get a pardon. Murder innocent civilians? You get a pardon," Mr Schiff said on Twitter. "Elect a corrupt man as president? You get a corrupt result."
Another Democrat, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, said in a statement: "I doubt government contractors who slaughtered civilians or corrupt Congressional cronies were what the Founders had in mind when they drafted the pardon clause."
Mr Trump on Tuesday also appointed several key aides to the boards of public institutions, a sign he is planning for his departure from the White House despite his refusal to concede.
It remains unclear if he will attend Mr Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony on Jan 20, but he has indicated he will leave the White House when his term ends.
NYTIMES, REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
