Trump’s Christmas Eve pardon sweep shields allies and reinforces the pay-to-play stink
The White House used Christmas Eve to issue a fresh round of pardons that included some of Trump’s closest political and personal allies, extending a pattern that made clemency look less like mercy than loyalty reward. The list revived anger over the administration’s willingness to hand out extraordinary favors to people with ties to the president, his orbit, or his family. The optics were especially ugly because the action landed right as Trump was still trying to sell himself as a law-and-order president.
First recorded Dec 24, 2020·Meaningfully updated Dec 24, 2020
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Trump’s Christmas Eve pardon sweep shields allies and reinforces the pay-to-play stink
The White House used Christmas Eve to issue a fresh round of pardons that included some of Trump’s closest political and personal allies, extending a pattern that made clemency look less like mercy than loyalty reward. The list revived anger over the administration’s willingness to hand out extraordinary favors to people with ties to the president, his orbit, or his family. The optics were especially ugly because the action landed right as Trump was still trying to sell himself as a law-and-ord…
The White House used Christmas Eve to issue a fresh round of pardons that included some of Trump’s closest political and personal allies, extending a pattern that made clemency look less like mercy than loyalty reward. The list revived anger over the administration’s willingness to hand out extraordinary favors to people with ties to the president, his orbit, or his family. The optics were especially ugly because th…
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