US President Donald Trump today pardoned Steve Bannon, a former White House aide, during his last hours in office.
A senior administration official said Trump has said he will grant amnesty to Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and reduced sentences.
He was not expected to pardon himself, his family members, or his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, who had been at the forefront of the failed efforts to cancel the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The New York Times reported that the White House had been planning to publish a list of those granted amnesty earlier on Tuesday, but the controversy over Bannon was part of the delay.
Bannon was charged last year with swindling Trump supporters in an effort to raise private money to build the president’s wall on the US-Mexico border.
The pardon will not be formal until Trump signs the papers.
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This comes after Trump pardoned rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were on trial on federal weapons charges, as well as former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison sentence on corruption charges, a senior administration official said.
According to CNN, Trump told people he made the decision to pardon Bannon – who, along with three others, has been accused of defrauding donors of more than $ 1 million – as one of his last acts in office.
Bannon, who was previously the editor of the far-right Breitbart website, served as the White House strategic chief under his supervision. Donald Trump For the first seven months of his administration.
He also ran the successful Trump presidential campaign in 2016.
The wire fraud and money laundering charges relate to a “we’re building the wall” fund-raising campaign that prosecutors at the US Attorney’s Office say has occupied hundreds of thousands of donors.
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Donald Trump leaves office today, when Joe Biden He will be sworn in as the next head of the nation.
White House officials advised Trump not to pardon Bannon, but the two men recently revived their relationship as Trump sought support for his unproven allegations of voter fraud, an official familiar with the situation said.
Bannon, 67, is the latest high-profile political ally to be pardoned by Trump, who has often used the powers of the executive branch to reward loyalists and punish his enemies.
Trump has previously pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about his conversation with the former Russian ambassador.
He also commuted his prison sentence to Roger Stone, who was found guilty of lying to Congress while investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Lil Wayne, 38, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., pleaded guilty in federal court in December to illegal possession of a firearm and faced up to 10 years in prison.
He expressed support for Trump’s efforts to reform criminal justice.
Kodak Black, 23, born Bill Kahan Capri, is in federal custody for making a false statement in order to purchase a firearm.
