Three days after the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, the still president of the United States is preparing to move forward with about 100 pardons and commutations, this Tuesday, the last day of Trump as a tenant of the White House.
According to the news reported by “CNN”, this morning, a large batch of clemency actions includes white collar criminals and rappers famous. According to three sources close to the head of state, the White House met this Sunday to finalize the proceedings and, for now, there is no indication that Donald Trump himself is included in the list.
Among the pardons is the name of Salomon Melgen, a doctor accused of tax fraud.
Trump, who has been delivering pardons and commutations at an accelerated pace even before Christmas, slowed down shortly after the Capitol riots on January 6. Aides consulted by the television station indicated that the still president was focused on counting the Electoral College in the days leading up - which confirmed the election of the Democratic candidate in the Senate -, preventing him from making final decisions on pardons. White House officials expected work to resume after the episode that marked an attack on American democracy, but Trump stepped back after being accused of inciting unrest.
Initially, two sets of pardons were prepared to be released: one at the end of last week and another this Tuesday. Now, officials expect the last batch to be the only one, unless Trump decides, at the last minute, to grant pardons to controversial allies, members of his family or even himself.
The possibility is now on the table after the riots in Washington resulted in a second impeachment of Trump. Although it received a positive opinion in the House of Representatives, which still has a Democratic majority, in the Senate the story is different since Republicans still control the upper house.
In addition to being open to the possibility of pardoning himself, analysts believe that his children and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani could be included as well, although advisers close to the president guarantee the opposite.
