Donald Trump on Tuesday granted clemency to a slew of convicted criminals, in line with a tradition for outgoing ‘lame duck' Presidents during their final months in office.
Accordingly, before handing over the reins to his successor, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, Trump had been anticipated to announce a number of high-profile pardons.
Here is a look at the people currently singled out for last-minute clemency at the recommendation of Trump allies in Congress and, in some cases, the conservative media.
‘Russia Probe' Pardons
Ex-campaign aide George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos was the first Trump campaign worker to be convicted during the Russiagate investigation conducted by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller. A former volunteer foreign policy advisor to Donald Trump's campaign, he first came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding his contacts in 2016 related to US-Russian relations.
On 5 October 2017, Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI regarding his interactions with a mysterious Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud in what was the first guilty plea of those charged in the Russia probe following the US 2016 presidential election.
Then-presidential candidate Trump terminated Papadopoulos as his foreign policy adviser for his campaign following the conviction, claiming instead that he was only a “coffee boy”.
Papadopoulos served two weeks in prison, one year of supervised release, 200 hours of…
