President Donald Trump issued another round of pardons and sentence commutations on Wednesday, this time benefiting 29 people, including his former 2016 campaign
chairman Paul Manafort
, his
ally Roger Stone
and
Charles Kushner
, his son-in-law's father.
With this,
there are already 49 the number of people that Trump has pardoned
in the last two days, either through commutations of sentence or complete pardons.
The president pardoned 15 people and commuted the sentences of five others on Tuesday, many of which were related to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Russian plot.
Also included on Tuesday's list were former members of Congress who were his first supporters and former government contractors convicted of the killings of Iraqi civilians.
Stone, a Republican strategist since the Richard Nixon administration in the 1970s and who has been a close campaign adviser to Trump, was sentenced in February 2020 to 40 months in jail for lying to Congress to cover up the president.
Roger Stone arrives in Washington District Court on February 21, 2019. Getty Images
Also, for witnessing the manipulation and obstruction of the House of Representatives investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
In July this year, however, the president commuted Stone's sentence as the White House said that
due to age and pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, Stone was vulnerable to infection and complications from coronavirus if he was admitted to jail.
According to the White House statement sent Wednesday night, he was pardoned "due to improper procedures by the special counsel [Robert] Mueller team, as Mr. Stone was treated very unfairly. He was subjected to a raid on his home before dawn, which the media conveniently captured on camera. Stone also faced potential political bias in his trial by a jury. "
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