Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned former senior adviser Steve Bannon among scores of others in the final hours of his presidency.
Others confirmed to have been pardoned, according to Reuters, were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black who were prosecuted on federal weapons offences, and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is serving a 28-year prison term on corruption charges.
The New York Times and CNN described the pardoning of the former editor of Breitbart as a last-minute pre-emptive move to protect Bannon from his fraud trial this year.
Bannon faces trial following his arrest in August on a luxury yacht off the Connecticut coast, accused of siphoning money from We Build the Wall, an online fundraiser for Trump’s contentious border wall with Mexico.
Federal prosecutors allege that Bannon used a non-profit he controlled to divert “over $1m from the … online campaign, at least some of which he used to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expensesâ€.
Officials said We Build The Wall raised more than $25m. Bannon has denied one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and another of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Bannon was recently banned from Twitter for calling for the beheading of Dr Anthony Fauci and the FBI director, Christopher Wray.
Trump and Bannon were estranged after the former adviser left the White House and made critical remarks about the president to a tell-all book about the president called Fire and Fury by journalist Michael Wolff, and Trump said his former consigliere had “lost his mindâ€. But the two men are reported to have healed the rift, as an increasingly isolated president approached his last days.
CNN reported on Tuesday night that Trump had told aides he had made the last minute decision to include Bannon on his final pardon list. Bannon, however, could still face charges brought by state courts.
Trump did not attempt to give himself a pre-emptive pardon, as he had often been reported to be considering. Prosecutors and scholars have, however, said a grey area in the constitution means a president may be able to issue “secret†pardons, without notifying Congress or the public.
The announcement was delayed, CNN and the New York Times reported, because Trump was torn over pardoning Bannon.
Multiple Republican party figures defending Trump in his second impeachment, for inciting the Capitol attack on 6 January, counseled him not to offer pardons to any of the more than 100 people arrested as a result.
Presidential pardons and acts of clemency do not imply innocence. Presidents often bestow them on allies and donors but Trump has taken the practice to extremes.
Previous recipients include aides and allies Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and Paul Manafort, all convicted in the investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow, and Charles Kushner, the father of Trump’s son-in-law and chief adviser, Jared Kushner.
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were reportedly closely involved in the process deciding Trump’s final pardons.
Trump is due to leave Washington on Wednesday morning, ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the 46th president. He will fly to Florida, stripped of the legal protection of office.
Trump faces state investigations of his business affairs and could face legal jeopardy over acts in office including his attempts to overturn election defeat and his incitement of the Capitol riot on 6 January, over which he was impeached a second time.
If Trump is convicted in his second Senate trial, he could be barred from running for office again.
