Trump preparing another 100 pardons, commutations before leaving office: reports

by Morgan Gstalter - 01/18/21 8:11 AM ET

President Trump is reportedly prepared to issue around 100 pardons and commutations on Tuesday, his final full day in office.

CNN first reported that the new batch of clemency actions will include white-collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others. It will likely include some pardons aimed at advocating for criminal justice reform, as well as controversial pardons for political allies.

Trump met Sunday with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, daughter Ivanka Trump and other aides to review a long list of pardon requests, The Washington Post reported.

Pardon-seekers and those lobbying on their behalf have reportedly paid allies of Trump tens of thousands of dollars to press the president to grant clemency.

“Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favors for people he thinks will owe him,” one source familiar with the matter told CNN.

The list of potential pardons, however, does not currently include Trump himself.

Trump has reportedly floated the idea of issuing pardons for himself and members of his family for months, while Democrats have long threatened to pursue investigations of the president’s personal finances that could potentially lead to criminal charges once he leaves office.

He was impeached by the House last week for a second time on the charge of inciting violence at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths. Ten Republicans in the House supported the impeachment effort. The Senate trial is slated to begin after he leaves office.

CNN reported that several of Trump’s closest advisers have reportedly urged him not to grant clemency to anyone involved in the siege, despite him initially telling supporters who had barged into the Capitol that he loved them and they were “very special.”

A majority of Americans — 68 percent — said in a new poll that they oppose the idea of Trump granting himself a historic self-pardon.

Trump issued a spate of pardons earlier in December including for former associates Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, who were convicted as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, as well as Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father, among others.