If not for a pardon from Donald Trump in the final weeks of his presidency, Paul Manafort might still be serving a federal sentence. Instead, Trump’s former campaign manager is a free man – and free to help his old boss get back to the White House.
Manafort is in discussions to assist the Republican National Convention this summer where Trump will officially become the party’s presidential nominee once again, sources reported this week. His anticipated involvement would make Manafort the latest beneficiary of clemency under Trump to assist the former president’s political comeback.
More than a dozen people pardoned of their crimes or who had their sentences commuted by Trump have since aided the former president as he seeks a return to power. Some have donated their considerable wealth to the cause. A handful endure on the periphery of his political operation as purveyors of Trump’s false conspiracies about the 2020 election, like former top adviser Steve Bannon. Others are outspoken backers with considerable followings, such as rapper Kodak Black, conservative writer and Trump biographer Conrad Black, and Phil Lyman, a former US representative now running for Utah governor.
One GOP consultant who received a pardon, John Tate, made more than $70,000 last year consulting for Trump’s presidential campaign, federal records show.
Trump issued 237 acts of clemency during his four-year term – the majority coming after the 2020 election, including 143 during his last hours in office. Though Trump issued fewer pardons than many of his modern predecessors, when he did, he largely operated outside the Office of the Pardon Attorney, a nonpartisan agency inside the Department of Justice that assesses requests for executive clemency.
Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
As he seeks another four years in office, Trump is once again promising extraordinary use of his pardon powers. He has vowed to free those arrested in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol – potentially hundreds of people serving prison sentences – as he makes denialism of the bloody riots central to his campaign.
Trump’s candidacy itself has also resurfaced debates over whether a president could pardon himself. The country may need to confront this question if the former president’s legal troubles remain unresolved before Election Day, as Trump faces 44 charges across two federal indictments. His pardon protections, though, would not extend to additional state charges he faces in separate indictments brought by prosecutors in Georgia and New York.
Voting near his residence in Palm Beach on Tuesday, Trump contended he didn’t have any knowledge of Manafort’s potential role at his Milwaukee nominating convention, but he added: “He was another person who was treated badly and he was a patriot but we’ll see what happens with that.”
Manafort, a lobbyist who became chairman of Trump’s first presidential campaign, was one of the highest-profile arrests in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He was convicted in 2018 of defrauding banks and the government, and of failing to pay taxes on millions of dollars in income he had earned from Ukrainian political consulting. He later faced additional punishment for obstruction of justice.
Originally sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in 2019, Manafort was granted home confinement in April 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. In December, a month after losing reelection, Trump pardoned Manafort.
Trump’s pardons have raised questions about favoritism and abuse of power, with experts noting the unusual circumstances surrounding the grants of clemency. The former president’s use of his pardon powers has been described as unprecedented and norm-shattering.
Trump’s pardons have benefited well-known Republicans, military figures, and celebrities, rather than average, unknown individuals, setting his clemency grants apart from those of past presidents.
Trump’s pardons have also extended to other loyalists and allies, such as Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn, who have all become key players in Trump’s efforts to secure a return to power.
As Trump continues to navigate legal challenges and controversies, his use of clemency and his relationships with those he has pardoned remain under scrutiny as he pursues a potential 2024 presidential bid.
