Presidents and Governors rarely hand out pardons for people who were recently convicted. Trump however, has done that, for example to Joe Arpaio, soon after the AZ sheriff was convicted of contempt of court.
Also to military personnel convicted of egregious acts where their military superiors are up in arms at the whitewashing of the offenses,
Trump grants clemency to troops in three controversial war crimes cases
and again, very soon after the convictions were handed down.
Also, commutations are generally handed out for those who have already served a substantial amount of their sentences. For example even when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commuted the sentence of Esteban Núñez, the teen who pleaded guilty to the stabbing death of another teenager,
Arnold Schwarzenegger's last act as governor still follows the Terminator
and it was said that Schwarzenegger did this as a favor to Esteban's father, Fabian Núñez, the 66th Speaker of the California State Assembly, still he merely lowered the sentence in about half to 7 years versus 16.
But in this case Trump pardoned Stone before he served a single day of his sentence.
As well, typically, at least while sitting in office, government officials tend to award pardons and commutations to people they don't know - on the basis of merit.
Even the "hacks and cronies" pardons handed out en masse by lame duck Presidents are delivered on the way out. It is unprecedented that a sitting President, not even yet voted out of office, would do such a thing, hand out pardons and commutations left and right to his friends and supporters.
Roger Stone Clemency Latest Example Of Trump Rewarding His Friends, Scholars Say
Perhaps Trump thinks he is on his way out and doesn't care.





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