Trump pardons former congressman, 13 others

President Donald Trump pardoned 15 people and commuted five other sentences on Tuesday as part of the presidential tradition of handing out end-of-term pardons, Associated Press reports.

Two of the men Trump pardoned are Duncan Hunter and Chris Collins, two former congressmen who were some of Trump's earlier supporters and were convicted of campaign finance violations and insider trading respectively.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the pardons of the two former congressmen came at "the request of many members of Congress."

Pardons also came for Nicholas Slatten, Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard. Slatten was convicted of murder and the other three of voluntary manslaughter for a massacre committed in Iraq while the four men worked for Blackwater Security Consulting. Their actions, dubbed the Nisour Square massacre, resulted in the deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians while the contractors were in the process of escorting a US embassy convoy. Supporters of the four men argue that they received excessive punishments in an improper trial.

Two Trump allies convicted as a result of the Mueller special counsel investigation were additionally pardoned by the President, George Papadopoulos and Alex van der Zwaan. Both of the men were convicted of lying to investigators.

Trump showed further support for border security by pardoning Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two border patrol agents who were convicted for non-fatally shooting a drug smuggler from Mexico in 2005 while on patrol near El Paso, Texas.

Trump pardoned Phil Lyman, who was convicted of trespassing after he led an illegal protest on an ATV through a canyon in support of rancher Cliven Bundy in 2014. Trump had lifted the ban on ATVs in the area since becoming President. Other pardoned individuals include a dentist convicted of health care fraud, two women with drug convictions, and a 92-year-old man who was convicted of distilling moonshine in the 1950s.

Some of the pardons were criticized by Democrats such as Sen. Chuck Schumer, who said "Trump is doling out pardons, not on the basis of repentance, restitution or the interests of justice, but to reward his friends and political allies, to protect those who lie to cover up him, to shelter those guilty of killing civilians, and to undermine an investigation that uncovered massive wrongdoing."

It is expected that Trump will pardon more people before the end of his term, with many civil rights groups particularly focused on securing a pardon for Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who is being charged under the Espionage Act in relation to leaked documents he received from Chelsea Manning.