By Kevin Johnson, David Jackson, Dennis Wagner | USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly used his clemency authority as a political tool rather than an act of mercy, issued a final wave of pardons and commutations during his final hours in office, delivering relief for a mix of beneficiaries that included former strategist Steve Bannon, Republican Party and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, found guilty in 2013 of corruption charges.
He granted pardons to 73 people and commuted the sentences of 70, according to a news release from the White House on Wednesday, before he pardoned one more roughly an hour before Joe Biden was sworn in as the new president.
After Trump landed in Florida on Air Force one, skipping the inauguration, he announced a pardon for the ex-husband of Fox News host Judge Jeanine Pirro. Albert Pirro, a former real estate associate of Trump’s, was convicted on conspiracy and tax evasion charges.