December 3, 2020 US President Donald Trump speaks before awarding
the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired football coach Lou
Holtz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP
US President Donald Trump issued new
pardons Wednesday for allies including the father of his son-in-law
Jared Kushner and two confidants caught up in the probe into
Russian meddling in the 2016 election that brought him to
power.
The pardons added to a long list he has granted in his waning
days in office and sparked fresh outrage.
Among those pardoned were Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty to
charges including tax evasion and witness tampering in 2004, as
well as former campaign manager Paul Manafort and longtime adviser
Roger Stone.
The trio were among 26 people pardoned and three who had all or
part of their sentences commuted by Trump on
Wednesday.
READ ALSO: No Christmas Vacation For Trump
They come only a day after Trump pardoned another 15
people and commuted sentences for five, including corrupt
Republican congressmen and security guards convicted of killing 14
civilians in a 2007 Baghdad massacre.
Trump’s pardon of Manafort, who was at the heart of the
investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller into allegations
of Russian interference in the election four years ago, triggered
fury that Trump was trying to erase the probe he has
always described as a “witch hunt.”
Democratic congressman Adam Schiff, who heads the House
intelligence committee, said in a tweet that “during the Mueller
investigation, Trump’s lawyer floated a pardon to Manafort.
Manafort withdrew his cooperation with prosecutors, lied, was
convicted and then Trump praised him for not
‘ratting.’ Trump’s pardon now completes the corrupt
scheme.”
Manafort himself took to Twitter, saying, “You truly did ‘Make
America Great Again.’ God Bless you & your family. I wish you a
Merry Christmas & many good wishes for the coming years.”
David Axelrod, a political commentator and former aide to
president Barack Obama, said of the move, “Everyone saw this raw
sewage dump of pardons and commutations for @realDonaldTrump
apparatchiks and loyalists coming … Yet the spectacle is still
appalling.”
Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who has publicly spoken out
against Trump, said simply, “This is rotten to the core.”
Earlier in the day, Iraqis had expressed outrage and sadness
after Trump delivered pardons for the four Blackwater
security contractors who were convicted of murder and manslaughter
six years ago for the Nisur Square massacre.
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The four, all former US servicemen, opened fire unprovoked on
the crowded square in 2007, leaving at least 14 civilians dead —
though Iraqi authorities put the toll as high as 17 — while
wounding dozens more and deeply souring US-Iraqi relations.
‘Utter outrage’
“I knew we’d never get justice,” Fares Saadi, the Iraqi police
officer who led the investigations, told AFP.
Retired US general Mark Hertling, who served in Iraq, called the
Blackwater pardon “egregious and disgusting.”
“This was a craven war crime that resulted in the death of 17
Iraqi civilians. Shame on you Mr President,” Hertling tweeted,
using the higher death toll.
Trump had also extended pardons to two more minor figures
in the 2016 Russia election meddling investigation, and granted
clemency to three former Republican lawmakers that watchdog group
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called “three
of the most corrupt members of Congress in recent history.”
All five have been vocal supporters of Trump.
Trump also stunned prosecutors in Florida Tuesday when he
commuted the prison sentence of Philip Esformes, a health care
tycoon sentenced in 2019 to 20 years in prison for bilking the
federal Medicare program of $44 million, the largest-ever Medicare
fraud case.
While Esformes had no evident links to Trump, he was backed
by several influential former Republican attorneys general and
prosecutors who have supported the president.
More pardons ahead
Trump is believed to be weighing other pardons including
members of his family, his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and
potentially himself, to protect from potential litigation after he
steps down on January 20.
That could spark even greater uproar, though would likely be
difficult to reverse.
Trump is also being pressed by libertarian and civil rights
groups to pardon three people involved in leaks of national
security information — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former
National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and another
ex-NSA employee Reality Winner.
Others known to have requested pardons include former US soldier
Robert Bale, convicted of murdering 16 Afghan civilians in 2012,
and Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic, the star
of the hit Netflix documentary “Tiger King”, convicted of trying to
hire a man to murder a rival.
AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/12/24/trump-pardons-more-allies-sparking-fresh-outrage/
As the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) takes
off on January 1, 2021, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment,
Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo has called on Nigerians, particularly
industrialists to take advantage of the inherent opportunities to
promote Made-in-Nigeria goods.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Ifedayo Sayo,
the minister said Nigeria cannot afford to be left out of the
emerging African economic block, stressing that AfCTA will form a
3.4 trillion dollar economic bloc, which Nigeria must play a
leading role.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
The AfCFTA, the world’s largest free trade area in terms of 54
participating countries, will commence on January 1, 2021.
The commencement date will signal the beginning of the
implementation of a single continental market for goods and
services, with free movement of business persons and investments
across Africa.
According to the minister, “The journey started on July 7, 2019,
when Nigeria became the 53rd African country to sign the AfCFTA
treaty. Long before then, it has always been the dream of Nigeria
and Africa’s founding fathers to unite the continent in one, shared
prosperity.
“The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement will form a
$3.4 trillion economic bloc, which Nigeria cannot afford to be left
out of.
“We have worked tirelessly to ensure that Nigeria not only
partakes as a signatory in name but become a major trade and
economic powerhouse, even more than we have been within the ECOWAS
region.”
Also speaking on readiness measures taken by the government
towards the effective implementation of AfCFTA, the Secretary,
National Action Committee on AfCFTA, Francis Anatogu said, “We are
effectively coordinating with all critical stakeholders to ensure a
smooth playing field for Nigerian traders and businessmen to
explore the vast markets that will be opened up come January 1st,
2021.
“We are set to commence a major communication campaign and have
tagged January 2021 as AfCFTA Awareness and Sensitisation month,
which would take place across the six geopolitical zones, and would
involve various stakeholder groups in public, private and civil
society sectors, as well as other critical traditional
institutions.”
Established on May 30, 2018, the agreement has been signed by 54
AU member countries and ratified by 31 AU member countries,
including Nigeria in July 2019 and November 2020 respectively.
AfCFTA is expected to help expand Nigeria’s inter-trade portfolio,
boost competitiveness, and increase GDP.