Washington, December 22 US President Trump used presidential power to pardon 15 people, including the subject of the “collusion with Russia” investigation accused of perjury and former employees of the “Black Water” security company convicted of shooting Iraqi civilians.
According to comprehensive U.S. media reports, the list of pardoned people announced by the White House that night included George Papadopoulos, a 2016 Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, and Alex Van derzwan, who were imprisoned for perjury in the “Russia” investigation, and four people who were killed in Iraq Ping for their involvement in the shooting.
Former Blackwater Security Company employee sentenced to 12 to life imprisonment.
Congress House Intelligence Committee Chairman and Democrat Adam Schiff subsequently issued a statement accusing Trump of abusing the president’s right to pardon.
In September 2007, several security guards of the U.S. Blackwater Company opened fire on unarmed civilians in a busy area of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, killing 14 civilians, including two children, and injuring 18 others, which caused international concern.
Among these security guards, Nicholas Sletten, who was alleged to be the first to shoot at that time and was not provoked before shooting, was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder in August 2019. Slaten was pardoned this time.
On November 25, Trump pardoned his first presidential assistant to national security affairs, Michael Flynn.
Flynn was one of the key figures in the two-year “Russia” investigation of Robert Miller, the special prosecutor of the U.S. Department of Justice, in which he admitted to lying to FBI personnel twice.
Trump has been accusing the “co-Russia” investigation as “political persecution”.
