With less than 12 hours before the end of his presidency, Donald Trump issued 143 pardons and commutations, including a pardon for Steve Bannon, his former chief strategist and campaign manager. Bannon was arrested in August for defrauding Trump supporters who donated money to an anti-immigrant nonprofit called We Build the Wall. In recent weeks, Bannon helped promote conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and urged Trump supporters to come to Washington, D.C., on January 6, when rioters attacked the Capitol. Trump also pardoned Elliott Broidy, one of his top fundraisers in 2016, who pleaded guilty in October in a foreign lobbying case. Other pardon recipients include former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, three former Republican congressmen — Rick Renzi, Robert Hayes and Randall “Duke” Cunningham — and the rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. We will have more on Trump’s pardons later in the program.
Steve Bannon Among Final Trump Pardons and Commutations
HeadlineJan 20, 2021