The White House held a meeting on Sunday to finalize the list of graces, according to two sources.
Trump, who frequently performs graces and commutations in the run-up to Christmas, granted them in the days immediately before and after the 6. January on hold at the U.S. Capitol, officials said.
Supporters said Trump’s focus on counting Electoral College votes in the run-up to the election prevented him from making final decisions on pardons. White House officials are expected to release it after the sixth. January resumes, but Trump returned after being accused of inciting unrest.
Originally, two large batches were released, one late last week and the other on Tuesday. Officials now expect the latter to be the only option – unless Mr Trump decides at the last minute to pardon controversial allies, family members or himself.
The final round of pardons should include both pardons aimed at criminal justice reform and more controversial pardons for political allies.
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Grace is one of many elements Mr Trump needs to complete before his presidency ends in a few days. White House officials are also still preparing orders and the president still hopes to release information related to the Russia investigation before he leaves office. But with the small number of directors still in office, the likelihood of achieving all of this seems to be diminishing.
The riots of the sixth. January, which led to Trump’s second indictment, complicated his desire to pardon himself, his children and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. At this stage, advisers don’t think he will, but they warn that only Trump knows what he will do with his last presidential power before he is elected on the 20th. January at noon officially leaves the office.
After the riots, advisers urged Trump to reject the pardon because he appeared to be guilty of something, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Several of Trump’s closest advisers also urged him not to pardon anyone involved in the siege of the US Capitol, despite Trump’s initial position that those involved in the siege had done nothing wrong.
Many people are urging the president to pardon those involved in the insurgency, Trump Sen. Lindsey Graham on Fox News Sunday. It would be wrong to ask these people for forgiveness.
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A White House official said the paperwork for the self-provisioning has not yet been completed.
However, Trump is scheduled to leave the White House on the 20th. January, possibly granting pardons before noon on the day of the inauguration.
Other names that are attracting attention, such as Julian Assange, are also not currently counted among the forgiven, but the list is still fluid, and that too could change.
It’s also not certain that Trump’s former counsel, Steve Bannon, will be pardoned.
POWERFUL : Wikileaks is asking for the help of journalists in a desperate attempt to get a last-minute pardon for Julian Assange.
Trump continues to get a lot of ornery referrals from advisers who remain in the White House, as well as from people outside the building who have been lobbying for themselves or their clients for months.
Allies expect Mr. Trump to grant a pardon that will benefit him after he takes office as president.
Everything is a transaction. He loves grace because it is one-sided. And he likes to do favors for people he thinks owe him, according to a source familiar with the matter.
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Solomon Melgen Possible Pardon
Dr. Solomon Melgen, a prominent eye doctor from Palm Beach, Florida, who is in prison after being convicted on dozens of health fraud charges, is now expected to be placed on a rehabilitation list, three sources who know him told CNN.
Melgen, known as a co-conspirator in the corruption case against Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, was sentenced in 2018 to 17 years in prison for health care fraud.
Although his name surprised some of Trump’s allies, given the president’s treatment of Menendez, Melgen is considered a wealthy and influential figure in South Florida. The corruption case against Menendez and Melgen was dismissed by the Justice Department in January 2018.
There has been a rush to file clemency petitions on behalf of allies and to add or remove names of supporters, according to the sources.
CNN had previously reported that in the final days of Trump’s tenure, last-minute appeals for clemency were made by allies, lobbyists and others hoping to profit from their loyalty to Trump. The New York Times reported Sunday that some of them are getting tens of thousands of dollars to lobby criminals hoping for a pardon.
This story has been updated with additional coverage.
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