Donald Trump pardons former adviser Steve Bannon

Washington: US President Donald Trump has granted clemency to former top adviser Steve Bannon as part of a wave of 143 pardons and commutations issued during his final day in the White House.

With just hours remaining until Joe Biden's inauguration, Trump pardoned Bannon, who ran his successful 2016 presidential campaign during its final months. The 67-year-old was charged last year with defrauding Trump supporters over an effort to raise private funds to build the president's wall on the US-Mexico border.

Bannon and Trump fell out during the first year of his presidency but the two men recently rekindled their relationship as Trump sought support for his unproven claims of voter fraud.

Trump issued a list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations on Wednesday (AEDT), continuing a tradition of presidents issuing a swathe of such last-minute decisions before leaving office.

Trump also pardoned rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offences, as well as former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.

Pardons were also granted to several figures with strong Republican Party connections, including former fundraiser Elliott Broidy who pleaded guilty in October to acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

He also pardoned former Republican congressman Robin Hayes, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during a bribery investigation.

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.

Former political strategist for Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, has been granted clemency. Credit: Bloomberg

Trump's pardon list did not include Rudy Giuliani, the Trump private lawyer who has been a vocal proponent of the president's claims of voter fraud in the November 3 presidential election.

It also did not include Julian Assange, the Australian WikiLeaks founder who has been charged with breaching the Espionage Act. A British judge ruled two weeks ago Assange should not be extradited to the United States, saying his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide.

Rumours that Trump may pardon Joe Exotic - the Tiger King documentary star who was imprisoned for attempted murder and animal abuse - also proved to be untrue.

Bannon's arrest

Bannon was arrested in August for his role in an online crowd-funding campaign known as We Build the Wall, which collected more than $US25 million ($35 million) from Trump supporters under the pretence of constructing a barrier preventing people from illegally entering the US.

The idea of a border wall was a central plank of the President's 2016 election campaign, in which Trump repeatedly claimed that the barrier would be paid for by Mexico.

Prosecutors have alleged that Bannon siphoned about $US1million from the We Build The Wall scheme, some of which he used "to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars" in personal expenses for himself and campaign founder Brian Kolfage.

It is also alleged that Bannon, Kolfage and two other defendants created a non-profit and shell company, using fake invoices, sham "vendor" arrangements and other measures to conceal the payments.

Trump warned against pardoning himself

Trump had previously considered pardoning himself and members of his family, but advisers reportedly dissuaded him of the idea by saying a self-pardon would make him look guilty.

Many scholars have also said that a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the basic principle that nobody should be the judge in his or her own case.

Former president Bill Clinton famously issued 140 pardons on his last day in office. The most controversial recipients included several Democratic Party politicians, Clinton’s brother Roger, and Marc Rich, a fugitive who had been charged with 51 counts related to tax fraud.

Two days before the end of his presidency, Barack Obama pardoned 64 people and commuted the sentences of 209 others — including Chelsea Manning, who was jailed for leaking highly sensitive information to WikiLeaks.

On his final day in office, Obama commuted the sentences of 330 prisoners, including many who had been jailed for drug offences.

with Reuters, Nine

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