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You wanna know who did Trump pardon? Well, where do you even start with that whole mess, eh? It’s a rabbit hole, that one, and believe me, I’ve seen my share of rabbit holes in this business over the last two decades. People always asking, “What was the deal with that guy?” or “Did he just let everyone off the hook?” It wasn’t quite everyone, but it felt like a fair old number got a get-out-of-jail-free card. You gotta wonder, what’s the thought process there, right?
Seems like it was always a bit of a circus, every time he’d open his mouth about it. A real head-scratcher, sometimes. One minute, you’re hearing about some big shot, the next, it’s a quiet little one nobody much heard of.
Michael Flynn
Now, old Mike Flynn. That whole saga. The man served as National Security Advisor for, what, about 22 days? Seemed like it was always a fight over him, a real dog’s breakfast. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, didn’t he? Then he changed his mind, or tried to, said he was entrapped. Honestly, with all the back and forth, you almost needed a scorecard to keep up.
Trump, he was always pretty vocal about Flynn, saying he was treated unfairly, a victim of a witch hunt, all that jazz. So, no big shocker when the pardon came down. I mean, the writing was on the wall there for a while, wasn’t it? It just sat there, plain as day. Some folks thought it was about loyalty, others, well, they thought it was about silencing a witness. I reckon it was a bit of both, myself. What a palaver, the entire thing. Did it really fix anything? Hard to say, hard to say. The man’s reputation, that’s not exactly going to scrub itself clean overnight, is it?
Roger Stone
Then there’s Roger Stone. Always a character, that one, right out of a political thriller. He got himself convicted of lying to congress and witness tampering, obstructing justice. All sorts of nasty bits. The whole Mueller investigation, a right old mess, and Stone was right smack in the middle of it, a colourful tie and a smirk.
He certainly knew how to play to the cameras. A real showman, Roger. And Trump, he was right there, defending him to the hilt, saying the jury was biased, saying Stone was a good man. When the pardon came through for Stone, some people were spitting nails, mind you. Others, they probably just shrugged, “Well, what did you expect?” It’s a funny old world, politics. One day you’re in the dock, the next, you’re walking free because someone at the top decided it. It tells you something about power, doesn’t it? About who gets to call the shots, and for what reasons. Some people reckon it sends a bad message, that if you’re close enough to the president, you can get away with anything. I wouldn’t argue with that, not really.
What’s the difference between a pardon and a commutation?
You know, folks often ask me, “What’s the difference between a pardon and a commutation?” It’s a fair question, it really is. A pardon, that wipes the slate clean, like the crime never happened. Restores rights, all that. A commutation, that just reduces a sentence, shortens the time someone has to serve. It doesn’t erase the conviction. Trump did a fair bit of both, mind. Sometimes it was just getting someone out of the clink early, sometimes it was making the whole thing disappear. Two very different beasts, them.
Steve Bannon
And how about Steve Bannon? That was a surprise, for a lot of people. He got charged with defrauding donors of a “We Build The Wall” campaign. remember that? A real head-shaker. Not exactly what you’d call a stand-up citizen, not if the charges were true. He was a key figure, for a time, early on. Architects of the whole movement, some called him. Then out in the cold, or so we thought.
Right at the very end, practically as he was walking out the door of the White House, Bannon gets a pardon. Not even convicted yet, was he? Just charged. So, no trial, no verdict. Just gone. That raised some eyebrows, it truly did. People saying, “What on earth was that about?” Loyalty, I suppose. Or maybe just trying to stick it to the people who were trying to stick it to him. It’s a messy business, politics, and this was about as messy as it gets. You don’t often see a president pardoning someone before they’ve even had their day in court. That’s a unique flavour of pardon right there.
Did he only pardon famous people?
Some people get this idea, you know, that presidents only pardon famous people, or folks involved in high-profile political scandals. It’s just not true, not really. While Trump certainly had his share of those big names and controversial types, he also pardoned a fair number of less known people. Folks convicted of drug offenses years ago, or maybe some white-collar crime that flew under the radar for most people. There were plenty of them, buried in those long lists that came out in the dead of night. It’s easy to forget them when the headlines are all about the big political players.
Those Who Never Thought They’d See the Light of Day
You had people like Alice Johnson, a woman doing a life sentence for a non-violent drug conviction. That one actually got a lot of public support, you know, from Kim Kardashian, of all people. That was a big one for the advocates of criminal justice reform. Then there were folks from the Blackwater team, controversial, them. Guards convicted for a massacre in Iraq. That one, well, it absolutely enraged a lot of people. It’s hard to reconcile that. One minute, you’re freeing a grandmother from a life sentence, the next, you’re clearing the names of guys involved in a civilian shooting. A real mixed bag, the whole lot of them. Makes you wonder about the criteria, truly.
What was the reasoning behind the pardons?
Reasoning? That’s a funny word in this context, isn’t it? Sometimes it felt like there was a grand strategy, some kind of political chess game. Other times, it felt like throwing darts at a board, just picking names for whatever reason popped into his head that day.
Loyalty, sure. That was a big one. People who stuck by him, people who defended him, people who wouldn’t flip. Folks who were part of his inner circle, or at least had been. That seemed to matter a whole lot. Political gain, too, maybe. Getting certain groups on side. Or just plain old sympathy, if you believe that. Maybe he genuinely felt some folks were unfairly treated by the justice system. Hard to tell. Sometimes it just looked like pure spite, honestly, sticking it to the institutions he felt were against him. It’s all a bit of a kaleidoscope, trying to figure out the real ‘why’ behind who did Trump pardon.
The Political Operatives and Lobbyists
You had folks like Paul Manafort, another big name from the Mueller investigation. Convicted of financial fraud. Another one of the campaign bigwigs, early on. Then there was Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer caught lying to investigators. Oh, and Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner’s father. He was convicted of tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering. That one, well, that’s family, isn’t it? Always a strong motivator, family.
It’s a dizzying list, really. You scroll through it, and you see names of people who were once major players in washington, or at least connected to the powerful. It makes you think about the corridors of power, doesn’t it? How these things work. Is it about justice, or is it about protecting your own? I mean, I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of presidents exercise this power. It’s never pretty, never straightforward. But this lot, well, it felt different. It had a certain… flavour to it, you know? A very particular kind of flavour.
Lil Wayne and Kodak Black
Even some rappers got in on the act. Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. Remember them? Lil Wayne pleaded guilty to a federal gun charge. Kodak Black, he was doing time for falsifying documents to buy a firearm. Not exactly political, these ones, were they? So, what was the deal there? Some folks reckon it was about outreach, trying to appeal to a younger, more diverse demographic. Others just thought it was celebrity influence, plain and simple.
It’s an interesting mix when you really look at who did Trump pardon. You got your war heroes, some of them controversial. You got your drug offenders, some of them genuinely deserving of a second chance. And then you got these political animals, the ones who were at the heart of the whole Washington show. It’s a real jumble.
Were there any patterns to who got pardoned?
Patterns? Yeah, you could say there were patterns. The most obvious one? Loyalty. People who were loyal to him, people who refused to cooperate against him, or people who were part of his inner circle or family. That was a massive common thread. Folks he knew, folks who supported him, folks who could be seen as victims of what he called the “deep state.”
Another one, definitely, was high-profile support. Sometimes it was a celebrity, sometimes it was a powerful politician. If someone famous or important lobbied for a pardon, it seemed to carry more weight. And then, there was the timing. A lot of them came right at the very end, in the final hours, like a flurry of last-minute deals. It’s like he was trying to clean house, or maybe just settle scores, before he walked out the door for good. It wasn’t about the optics sometimes, it felt like. It was just, “I’m doing this, like it or lump it.”
Could Trump pardon himself?
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? “Could Trump pardon himself?” The legal scholars, they’ve been arguing about that one for years. Some say no, a definite no, because it violates the basic principle that no one can be a judge in their own case. Others say, well, the Constitution doesn’t explicitly forbid it, so maybe, just maybe. It’s never actually been tested, see? He didn’t end up doing it, not officially anyway. But the talk was always there, bubbling under the surface. It just shows you how far the boundaries of that power stretch, or at least, how far people think they stretch. It’s a presidential power, the pardon, a massive one. It’s a relic, almost, from old monarchies. And every time a president uses it, it tells you something about them.
The whole thing, really, it leaves a funny taste in your mouth. You see who did Trump pardon, and it’s a list that raises more questions than it answers, most days. It’s a snapshot, really, of a very particular time in American politics. A time when the rules seemed to bend, and the powerful got to decide who played by them and who didn’t. And that, my friend, is how it went down.
