Vox Sentences - Trump’s lame-duck pardoning spree

Trump goes on a lame-duck pardoning spree; Israel will hold new elections after its government collapsed.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg.

• President Donald Trump is using his lame-duck period to pardon several friends and allies. Among 15 people he pardoned on Tuesday were two former Republican Congress members and an official from his 2016 campaign who was implicated in the Russia investigation. [AP / Colleen Long, Kevin Freking, and Eric Tucker]
• The president pardoned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, who had lied to investigators about his role in Russian election interference. He also gave pardons to former Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York. [CNN / Pamela Brown, Kevin Liptak, and Katelyn Polantz]
• Hunter and his wife pleaded guilty last year to misusing campaign funds. Together, they stole more than $250,000 over several years. Hunter was due to begin serving an 11-month jail sentence in January 2021. [CNBC / Dan Mangan]
• Collins was an early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and he was convicted earlier in 2020 of securities fraud and lying to the FBI. He had introduced legislation that would have benefited a pharmaceutical company of whose board he was a member. [Slate / Ben Mathis-Lilley]
• Former Rep. Steve Stockman, a Republican from Texas, had his sentence commuted by Trump. Stockman, like Hunter and Collins, was found guilty on corruption charges. The White House acknowledged that conservative media recommended Trump issue these pardons. [Vox / German Lopez]
• Trump also pardoned four Blackwater private security contractors convicted of a 2007 massacre in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen people. The move sparked outrage from the victims’ families. [NBC News / Adela Suliman]
• The president may not be done, either — Axios reported that Trump is considering more Christmas pardons for allies sympathetic to his attempt to overturn the election results and even his own family members. [Atlantic / Tim Naftali]
• There has been speculation as to whether Trump will attempt to pardon himself, and questions of whether such a move would be legal. Either way, it would be unprecedented for a president. Trump has declared, however, that he has the “absolute right” to issue himself a pardon. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
• Just after announcing the pardons, Trump tweeted a video calling on Congress to add more funding to the stimulus package passed on Monday. The package, which Trump vetoed Wednesday, calls for $600 checks to individuals, but Trump wants that figure raised to $2,000. [Axios / Mike Allen and Glen Johnson]