LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — UPDATED 12/14/2020
President Donald Trump issued another round of pardons on Wednesday that included his former campaign manager and his son-in-law’s father.
All told, Trump gave out 26 pardons on Wednesday on top of the 15 he issued on Tuesday.
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska released a statement explaining that it was within the president's constitutional powers, but that the pardons were issued "to another tranche of felons like Manafort and Stone who flagrantly and repeatedly violated the law and harmed Americans."
“This is rotten to the core,” Sasse said.
Notable pardons include former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former campaign adviser Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Last year, Manafort was sentenced to 43 months in prison after being convicted on eight counts of tax and bank fraud. Manafort was released from federal prison earlier this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
Stone, who previously had his sentence commuted by Trump, was convicted on witness tampering and obstruction charges stemming from Special Counsel Bob Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Charles Kusnher was convicted in 2004 for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering. Kushner was prosecuted by Chris Christie, who is a supporter of Trump’s.
“I mean it’s one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was US attorney. And I was a US attorney in New Jersey, Margaret, so we had some loathsome and disgusting crime going on there,” Christie said last year in an interview with PBS’ Margaret Hoover.
The practice of issuing controversial pardons in the final days and week in office is not uncommon. For instance, in 2017, President Barack Obama's pardon of Chelsea Manning and Bill Clinton's 2001 pardon of his half brother Roger Clinton were debated at the time.
