ARCHIVE: Washington, D.C. - 23 May 2017
1. Former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, getting out of car and walking into U.S. District courthouse
2. Manafort leaving courthouse
ARCHIVE: New York - 27 June 2019
3. Various of Manafort in handcuffs walking in hallway of a Manhattan courthouse, escorted by court officers
ARCHIVE: New York City - 21 July 2016
4. Manafort (left) with Trump at Republican National Committee rehearsal
ARCHIVE: Newark, New Jersey - 18 August 2004
5. STILL of Charles Kushner (left), father of Trump's son-in-law, walking to U.S. District Courthouse with his lawyers Benjamin Brafman (right) and Alfred C. DeCotiis (center)
ARCHIVE: Newark, New Jersey - 4 March 2005
6. STILL of Kushner arriving at federal court to be sentenced
ARCHIVE: Washington, D.C. - 20 February 2020
7. Trump ally Roger Stone arriving at U.S. District Court for sentencing hearing
ARCHIVE: Washington, D.C. - 15 November 2019
8. Stone leaving court, entering car
ARCHIVE: Washington, D.C. - 30 April 2019
9. Stone walking towards the district courthouse with attorneys, entering
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest burst of clemency in his final weeks at the White House.
The actions bring to nearly 50 the number of people whom Trump in the last two days has granted clemency either by pardoning them or by commuting their sentences.
The pardons of Manafort and ally Roger Stone, who months earlier had his sentence commuted by Trump, underscore the president's determination to use the power of his office he final weeks to unravel the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and to come to the aid of associates he feels were wrongly pursued.
Trump has now pardoned four people convicted in that investigation, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.
Manafort had been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for financial crimes related to his work in Ukraine and was among the first people charged as part of Mueller's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He was released to home confinement last May because of coronavirus concerns in the federal prison system.
Manafort, in a tweet, thanked Trump and lavished praise on the outgoing president, declaring that history would show he had accomplished more than any of his predecessors.
Kushner is the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and a wealthy real estate executive who pleaded guilty years ago to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.
Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009.
