Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black were among the beneficiaries of Donald Trump’s wave of pardons in his last day in office on Wednesday, befitting a president who made his name in New York’s tabloids and on reality TV.
While the more than 140 people granted clemency included former aide Steve Bannon and major Republican Party fundraiser Elliott Broidy, Trump also used his wide-ranging powers to clear people with little apparent ties to his administration.
Five-time Grammy Award winner Lil Wayne, whose legal name is Dwayne Carter Jr., appeared to support Trump on the campaign trail ahead of Trump’s reelection bid when Carter said he backed Trump’s criminal justice reform program and economic plan for African Americans.
Carter, whose 2016 single “No Problem” won the Best Rap Performance Grammy, pleaded guilty last month to illegally possessing a loaded, gold-plated handgun when his chartered jet landed in Miami in December 2019. He faced a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Black, 23, who was born Bill Kahan Kapri, is in federal prison for making a false statement to buy a firearm and released the album “Bill Israel” from behind bars.
Black pleaded guilty in August 2019, and three months later was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison. He was seeking compassionate release and his commutation was supported by religious leaders, other rappers and athletes.
Despite speculation, the list did not include the subject of the Netflix series “Tiger King”, Joe Exotic, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for plotting to kill a rival and animal cruelty.
Most presidents have issued pardons late in their terms. Usually processed through the Office of the Pardon Attorney, they are intended to address cases in which the punishment is outsized compared to the crime.
Trump, who delivered his first pardon in August 2017, his first year in office, had issued 70 in total before Wednesday, many of which have been given to people who are friendly with his administration.
Trump’s pardons have also included some people tied to celebrities, including Alice Marie Johnson, a woman convicted on drug charges whose case was championed by reality television star Kim Kardashian West.
Trump has gotten involved with criminal justice cases affecting celebrities in other ways as well.
In 2019, Trump sought to intervene when A$AP Rocky was detained in Sweden after a brawl in downtown Stockholm. The rapper, whose legal name is Rakim Mayers, and two members of his entourage were charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Mayers said he had acted in self-defence after his bodyguard was attacked and was released from custody in August.
Trump pardons former Google engineer Anthony Levandowski
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had given a full pardon to a former Google engineer sentenced for stealing a trade secret on self-driving cars months before he briefly headed Uber Technologies Inc’s rival unit.
Anthony Levandowski, 40, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty in March. He was not in custody but a judge had said he could enter custody once the Covid-19 pandemic subsided.
The White House said Levandowski was “an American entrepreneur who led Google’s efforts to create self-driving technology.”
The statement added he had “paid a significant price for his actions and plans to devote his talents to advance the public good.” Alphabet Inc’s Google did not immediately comment.
Levandowski transferred more than 14,000 Google files, including development schedules and product designs, to his personal laptop before he left, and while negotiating a deal with Uber, where he briefly led its self-driving car unit.
Trump pardons ex-aide Bannon but not himself or family
The US President Donald Trump granted clemency to former White House aide Steve Bannon as part of a wave of pardons and commutations issued in his final hours in office but did not pardon himself, members of his family or lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Trump leaves office on Wednesday when Joe Biden is sworn in as the nation’s next president. White House officials had argued to Trump that he should not pardon himself or his family because it might look like they are guilty of crimes, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Bannon, who was a key adviser in Trump’s 2016 presidential run, was charged last year with swindling the president’s own supporters over an effort to raise private funds to build the president’s wall on the US-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty.
“Bannon has been an important leader in the conservative movement and is known for his political acumen,” the White House said in a statement.
White House officials had advised Trump against pardoning Bannon. The two men have lately rekindled their relationship as Trump sought support for his unproven claims of voter fraud, an official familiar with the situation said.
As part of more than 140 pardons and commutations, Trump also pardoned Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for Trump who pleaded guilty last year to violating foreign lobbying laws, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.
Rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offences were also granted pardons.
Giuliani, who has been at the forefront of Trump’s unsuccessful efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has not been charged with a crime, but investigators have been probing his activities in Ukraine.
Trump was impeached by the Democratic-led House last week on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 storming of the US Capitol by the president’s supporters. He may face a Senate trial and could be barred from running for president again if convicted.
PROMINENT ALLIES
The pardon power, which comes from the US Constitution, is one of the broadest available to a president. While pardons are typically given to people who have been prosecuted, pardons can cover conduct that has not yet resulted in legal proceedings.
A pardon is not reviewable by other branches of government and the president does not have to give a reason for issuing one. But the pardon power is not absolute; it only applies to federal crimes.
Bannon, 67, is the latest prominent political ally to receive clemency from Trump, who has often used the powers of the executive branch to reward loyalists and punish his enemies.
Trump previously pardoned former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about his conversation with the former Russian ambassador, and he commuted the prison term for Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress during its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
The former executive chairman and co-founder of the right-wing news outlet Breitbart, Bannon is credited as being the architect behind the rise of “America First” right-wing populism. He was a key influencer behind some of Trump’s staunch anti-immigration policies in the early days of Trump’s presidency, as well as the border wall that was one of Trump’s key campaign promises.
He was fired from his post at the White House in August 2017.
Bannon can still be charged with fraud by New York state prosecutors, said Daniel R. Alonso, a former prosecutor now at the Buckley law firm. Fraud prosecutions are frequently brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, Alonso added.
Broidy, who was a top fundraiser for Trump during the 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty in October to violating lobbying laws by attempting to influence the administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.
Lil Wayne, 38, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., pleaded guilty in federal court in December to illegally possessing a firearm and faced up to 10 years in prison. He has expressed support for Trump’s criminal justice reform efforts.
Kodak Black, 23, who was born Bill Kahan Kapri, is in federal prison for making a false statement in order to buy a firearm.
&uuid=(email))