Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-20210120

A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 20 Januari 2021

Trump expected to issue flurry of pardons on last full day

paying a salary to one cam-
paign official and personal
expenses for himself.

Giuliani said on his Sunday
radio show that, while he
fears that prosecutors might
“try to frame me,” he is ”will-
ing to run that risk."

“I do not need a pardon. I
don’t commit crimes," he
said.

Republican Sen. Lindsey
Graham of South Caro-
lina, who speaks often with
Trump, said on Fox's Sunday
Morning Futures that there
are also “a lot of people” urg-
ing the president to pardon
those who participated in
the storming of the Capitol
building — pleas he urged
the president to swiftly reject.
“I don’t care if you went
there and spread flowers on
the floor, you breached the
security of the Capitol, you
interrupted a joint session
of Congress, you tried to in-
timidate us all. You should
(AP) — President Don- lower taxes, scale back federal made public. after the insurrection at the be prosecuted to the full-
ald Trump was expected regulations and normalize re- Capitol by pro-Trump rioters est extent of the law and to
to spend his last full day lations in the Middle East. Trump was personally in- incited by the president's fi- seek a pardon of these people
in office issuing a flurry volved in the effort to sift ery and baseless election chal- would be wrong,” he said.
of pardons and bidding But Trump, who remains through requests, mostly lenges. That threw an already He warned that such a move
farewell to the American consumed with anger and from first-time drug offend- paralyzed White House into “would destroy President
public from a near-de- grievance over his election ers sentenced to life, rejecting even further chaos. Trump Trump and I hope we don’t
serted White House and loss, refused and has not been some applications and green- has since been impeached for go down that road.”
surrounded by an extraor- seen in public since last week, lighting others, according to a second time.
dinary security presence when he traveled to Texas for one of the people involved in In addition to the bold-faced
outside. one last photo opportunity the effort. Also playing a key A long list of staffers have al- names, Trump's list is expect-
at the border wall he pushed role has been the president's ready packed their offices and ed to include people whose
In one of his final acts as pres- so adamantly throughout his daughter, Ivanka Trump, departed the White House, cases have been championed
ident, Trump was expected to presidency. In the end, he who personally met with ad- leaving the West Wing de- by criminal justice reform
grant clemency to as many as spent less than 45 minutes on vocates, reviewed cases and serted — a warren of empty advocates. They are people
100 people, according to two the ground there and spoke brought them to the Depart- offices and bare walls — sur- like Chris Young, who was
people briefed on the plans. just 21 minutes. ment of Justice and pardon rounded by an unprecedent- sentenced to life in prison
The list of pardons and com- attorney. ed security apparatus with for drug possession because
mutations is expected to in- Trump has also refused to National Guard troops, mili- of federal sentencing mini-
clude names unfamiliar to the take part in any of the sym- Jessica Jackson, a lawyer and tary vehicles and checkpoints mums and whose case has
American public — regular bolic passing-of-the-torch criminal justice advocate who aimed at staving off further been championed by real-
people who have spent years traditions that have been the has been working with the violence. ity TV star Kim Kardashian
languishing in prison — as capstones of the peaceful administration, said that she West.
well as politically-connected transition of power from one came to Ivanka Trump with Moving trucks were spotted
friends and allies like those administration to the next. the case of Darrell Frazier, in Florida on Monday arriv- "Our nation is not well served
he’s pardoned in the past. He is boycotting Biden’s in- who has served more than 29 ing at Trump's private Mar-a- by spending millions of tax-
auguration, passed on invit- years of a life sentence with Lago club. payer dollars burying people
Trump also has been using ing the Bidens to the White no parole for his role in a alive under outdated federal
his final days in office to is- House for a get-to-know- drug conspiracy. While incar- It remains unclear whether drug laws,” said his attorney,
sue steady a stream of execu- you meeting. And it remains cerated, he founded a non- Trump will pardon Steve Brittany K. Barnett, who is
tive orders as he tries to lock unclear whether he will write profit foundation in Tennes- Bannon, his former top strat- co-founder of the Buried
in initiatives that President- Biden a personal welcome see that teaches tennis to 100- egist, or offer pre-emptive re- Alive Project, a criminal jus-
elect Joe Biden is likely to letter, like the one he re- 200 kids a week. prieves to his attorney, Rudy tice reform advocacy group.
ignore. Trump has also re- ceived from former President Giuliani, his adult children
corded a video offering a fi- Obama when he moved in. “I heard his story and brought and or even himself — un- Trump has already pardoned
nal message to the Ameri- it to Ivanka," said Jackson. charted legal territory. a number of longtime as-
can people before a farewell Denied his Twitter bullhorn “Once she heard the story, sociates and supporters, in-
event at Joint Base Andrews and with little else planned, she took it to the DOJ, she Bannon has been charged cluding his former campaign
on Wednesday morning. Trump did participate in mul- took it to the pardon attor- with duping thousands of chairman, Paul Manafort;
tiple meetings over the long ney." investors who believed their the father of his son-in-law,
Aides had urged Trump to weekend to discuss pending money would be used to ful- Charles Kushner; his long-
spend his final days in of- clemency actions, according Trump had been expected to fill Trump's chief campaign time friend and adviser Roger
fice participating in a series to a White House official, move forward with addition- promise to build a wall along Stone and his former nation-
of legacy-burnishing events who, like others, spoke on al pardons and commuta- the southern border. Instead, al security adviser Michael
— speeches highlighting his condition of anonymity be- tions earlier this month, but Bannon is charged with di- Flynn.
administration’s efforts to cause the action had yet to be discussions were put on hold verting over a million dollars,