Draining the swamp

«President Trump issued 26 more pardons on Wednesday, granting clemency to individuals including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, longtime adviser Roger Stone and Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father.

Mr. Trump, who used the clemency power only sparingly early in his term, appears to be freely exercising it in his final weeks in office to grant reprieves to allies and associates in his political orbit. In addition to the acts of clemency announced this week, last month he pardoned his former national-security adviser Mike Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Messrs. Stone and Manafort played instrumental roles in the president’s political rise, with Mr. Manafort serving as his campaign chairman in 2016 and Mr. Stone acting as a longtime political confidant. Both men were charged as part of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election. The elder Mr. Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison on charges related to witness tampering during a federal investigation of his business more than a decade ago.

An analysis by Harvard Law professor and former Justice Department official Jack Goldsmith found that 60 of the 65 pardons Mr. Trump granted before Wednesday went to individuals with personal or political connections to the president. Mr. Trump has bypassed the normal Justice Department process for reviewing pardons, frequently hearing appeals for clemency directly from celebrities or other friends, business associates or political allies.»

Wall Street Journal