(This January 18 article is being resubmitted to correct typos in the 7th paragraph, so that Bannon’s age is now 67 instead of 66, and to refer to “WikiLeaks” instead of “Wikileaks” in the 8th paragraph.)
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will likely pardon rapper Lil Wayne on Tuesday, but lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former adviser Steve Bannon are unlikely to be affected in a final wave of pardons and commutations, sources said on Monday.
Trump is expected to issue more than 100 pardons and commutations on his last full day in office. Two sources familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Trump appeared to be discouraged from pardoning himself or members of his family.
Lil Wayne pleaded guilty last month to carrying a loaded, gold-plated handgun when his chartered jet landed in Miami in December 2019. He faces up to 10 years in prison at a hearing in Miami on Jan. 28.
Lil Wayne appeared to support Trump during last year’s presidential campaign when he tweeted a photo of himself with the president and said he supported Trump’s criminal justice reform program and his economic plan for African Americans.
The sources confirmed a New York Times report that the list of pardons and commutations is expected to include 76-year-old former New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who was convicted on corruption charges in 2015.
Giuliani is unlikely to be on Trump’s list. Trump’s personal lawyer has been a vocal supporter of the president’s claims that there was voter fraud in the November 3 presidential election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.
According to the sources, Steve Bannon, who helped Trump win the election in 2016 and was a senior White House adviser, is also unlikely to be pardoned. Bannon, 67, has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding donors to “We Build the Wall,” an online fundraising campaign that raised $25 million.
A pardon for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is also not to be expected, the sources said.
In 2019, the US Department of Justice asked Britain to extradite Assange to the US to face charges of conspiring to hack US government computers and violating an espionage law.
A British judge ruled two weeks ago that Assange should not be extradited to the United States because his mental health problems put him at risk of suicide.
(This story has been resubmitted to correct typos in the 7th paragraph, so Bannon’s age is now 67 instead of 66, and the 8th paragraph now reads “WikiLeaks” instead of “Wikileaks.”)
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Robert Birsel)
