Trump pardons former adviser Stephen Bannon
WASHINGTON – Keeping with his tradition of using his power to help political allies, President Donald Trump has pardoned former adviser Stephen Bannon, who's awaiting trial in Manhattan on fraud charges tied to a border wall fundraising effort.
The pardon is unusual because Bannon has yet to stand trial. But it has a familiar ring for Trump because he granted it to a longtime ally who got into trouble with the law.
The president has pardoned former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and he commuted the sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone.
"Even Nixon didn’t pardon his cronies on the way out," said Noah Bookbinder, executive director of Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. "Amazingly, in his final 24 hours in office, Donald Trump found one more way to fail to live up to the ethical standard of Richard Nixon."
Bannon was one of four people accused last summer of defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors in the "We Build the Wall" GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign to finance one of Trump's signature goals. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say the campaign raised more than $25 million.
Instead of using the money on construction as advertised, the campaign secretly routed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bannon and three accomplices, according to federal prosecutors.
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More than $350,000 was allegedly routed to Brian Kolfage, the campaign's founder, and Bannon received more than $1 million, prosecutors said. Kolfage, Bannon and two others were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each of which could carry up to 20 years in prison.
Ted Boutrous, a prominent First Amendment and appellate lawyer, slammed Bannon's pardon. "Trump pardoning a guy indicted by the Trump Justice Department for defrauding Trump supporters over the fake Trump wall is a fitting end to the Trump presidency," Boutrous tweeted.
After charges were announced in August, Trump said he felt "very badly" for his former adviser.
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Before his last day in office Trump had granted clemency to more than 90 people, including allies and former aides involved in the investigation of Russian election interference during the 2016 election.
That group includes Paul Manafort, a Trump campaign manager in 2016 who was convicted of defrauding banks; George Papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who admitted lying to the FBI; and Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian officials.
Trump commuted the sentence of longtime political adviser Roger Stone just days before he was set to report to prison after being convicted of lying to Congress and obstructing the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
They were among the half-dozen Trump associates who were indicted as a result of former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump adviser Stephen Bannon receives pardon
