US President Donald Trump, who has less than a month remaining in office, on Tuesday announced 15 pardons, including two men who pleaded guilty in Robert Mueller’s investigation. Pardons were also extended to Republican allies who once served in Congress and military contractors involved in the deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians.
Included among the people who received a pardon from the president is Alex van der Zwaan, the Dutch lawyer who was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty of lying to the Mueller investigators. Steve Stockman—a former Republican congressman who was convicted of money laundering, conspiracy and other charges related to a scheme defrauding charitable donors in 2018—had his sentence commuted by Trump. Last month, the president, who had been weighing issuing clemency grants, pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser who was also charged in connection with Mueller's investigation.
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Congressmen Duncan Hunter of California and former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos are included among those who received the presidential pardons. Hunter, who was due to begin serving an 11-month sentence next month, had in 2019 pleaded guilty of misusing campaign funds and stealing over $250,000 over several years along with his wife. A pardon was also granted to former New York representative Republican Chris Collins. Collins, last year, pleaded guilty to sharing classified information about a pharmaceutical company’s failed drug trial.
Two former US Border Patrol agents—Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean—who were convicted of shooting an unarmed illegal alien, who was trafficking 700 pounds of marijuana in 2005, were also granted pardons. In 2009, then president George W. Bush had commuted their prison sentences.
