(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump pardoned his 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort, using his executive power in his final weeks as president to free an ally who’d been convicted of financial crimes and illegal lobbying.
Trump also pardoned Roger Stone, a longtime political adviser whose sentence for a conviction of lying to Congress he had previously commuted; and Charles Kushner, the real estate developer and father of the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The White House announced the pardons on Wednesday night after Trump arrived at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the holidays.
Manafort was sentenced last year to 7 1/2 years in prison and was the highest-profile figure to have been charged and convicted as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election.
Earlier this year, Manafort was released from prison to serve his sentence at home due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prosecutors have said Manafort lied to banks to get loans and hid millions of dollars offshore from the Internal Revenue Service from his work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
Trump had previously resisted offering Manafort a pardon, likely in part because doing so posed a political risk. His decision to move forward now appeared at least a tacit acknowledgment that his presidency is nearing an end, despite asserting without evidence that he was robbed of a victory by widespread election fraud.
Shortly after Manafort’s conviction, Trump told reporters he believed Manafort was a “good man” and said he felt “very sad” about the conviction -- even though the crimes did not relate to the president. Trump went on to suggest that Manafort had been unfairly targeted by federal investigators.
“It’s a witch hunt and it’s a disgrace,” Trump said.
The pardon doesn’t end all of Manafort’s legal problems. He’s been indicted in New York for lying on mortgage applications for properties in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. said Trump’s pardon “underscores the urgent need to hold Mr. Manafort accountable for his crimes against the People of New York as alleged in our indictment, and we will continue to pursue our appellate remedies.”
The elder Kushner was imprisoned after being convicted of charges that included preparing false tax returns and witness retaliation.
Moments after the pardon was announced, Stone’s lawyer Grant Smith said his client is “humbled that President Trump used his Constitutional power to allow Mr. & Mrs. Stone to put this behind them and move on with their lives.”
Trump earlier pardoned Michael Flynn, his first national security adviser, who had pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents, and commuted the sentence of political ally Roger Stone, who was supposed to serve more than three years in prison for witness tampering and lying to Congress.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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