With Pardons, Trump Seeks to Erase Stain of Russia Probe
Washington, Dec 24 (AFP/APP): President Donald Trump’s pardons of five people from his 2016 election campaign caps his effort to bleach out the stain on his tenure of the Russia interference investigation.
The US leader never accepted the conclusions of US intelligence and special counsel Robert Mueller that Moscow intervened in the election four years ago to aid his upset victory, calling it a “hoax” and “fake news.” He has also claimed that his predecessor Barack Obama and a so-called “deep state” of anti-Trump officials conspired with the investigation to destroy his presidency from the beginning.
Those pardoned in the past month — Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and Alex Van Der Zwaan — pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial as a result of Mueller’s probe into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow. For Trump, the pardons delivered a rebuke to those alleging his election victory was tainted by Russian help. Flynn, his former national security advisor who admitted lying to the FBI about secret contacts with Russians, was victim of a “relentless, partisan pursuit of an innocent man,” Trump said as he announced the pardon on November 25.
The probe into Flynn, he said, was part of “a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.” On Tuesday Trump pardoned Papadopoulos — a campaign advisor who had tried to hide his contacts with individuals linked to Russian intelligence — and Van Der Zwaan, who also lied to investigators. And on Wednesday Trump announced the pardons of political consultant Stone and campaign chairman Manafort, both convicted of obstructing the investigations and lying.
Manafort was also jailed over multiple financial fraud charges. All, the White House said, had been victimized by Mueller. “Mr. Manafort has endured years of unfair treatment and is one of the most prominent victims of what has been revealed to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American history,” the White House said.
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