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szdaily -> World -> 
Trump to issue 100 pardons and commutations
    2021-01-19  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to issue around 100 pardons and commutations on his final full day in office today, according to three people familiar with the matter, a major batch of clemency actions that includes white-collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others but — as of now — is not expected to include Trump himself.

The White House held a meeting Sunday to finalize the list of pardons, two sources said.

Trump, who had been rolling out pardons and commutations at a steady clip ahead of Christmas, had put a pause on them in the days leading up to and directly after the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, according to officials.

Aides said Trump was singularly focused on the Electoral College count in the days ahead of time, precluding him from making final decisions on pardons. White House officials had expected them to resume after Jan. 6, but Trump retreated after he was blamed for inciting the riots.

Initially, two major batches had been ready to roll out, one at the end of last week and one today. Now, officials expect the last batch to be the only one — unless Trump decides at the last minute to grant pardons to controversial allies, members of his family or himself.

Moreover, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sunday expressed concern about possible attacks on the city’s residential area as President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration approached.

“I’m not only concerned about other state capitols. I’m also concerned about other parts of Washington, D.C.,” Bowser said during an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press.

The mayor said what has been widely reported by the press was the lockdown on the federal grounds in the city, but the residential area in the nation’s capital was also under threat.

Should an attack happen to harm D.C. residents, Bowser said there is a plan in place to respond.

“Our police department, working with our federal law enforcement partners and the United States army, quite frankly, also has a plan to pivot if we have any attacks in our neighborhoods,” she said.

A man from the neighboring state of Virginia, identified as 31-year-old Wesley Allen Beeler, was arrested Friday in downtown D.C. for carrying a pistol without license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of unregistered ammunition. He was released Saturday on personal recognizance, saying after the release that he made “an honest mistake.”

Up to 25,000 National Guard members have been authorized for the city to ensure the security of tomorrow’s inauguration, transforming the city into what some U.S. media called “a war zone.”

Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s top advisers on Sunday outlined his plans to tackle the nation’s multiple crises while balancing the impeachment trial of Trump, as a historic inauguration week opens in the United States.

Washington was under the watch of thousands of National Guard troops and ringed with security barriers ahead of Biden’s swearing tomorrow, in a nation still rattled by the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

“I hope that the Senate leaders on a bipartisan basis have found a way to move forward on all their responsibilities,” including the impeachment trial and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Biden’s incoming chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN.

But injecting a note of urgency, he warned that the nation could reach the awful total of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths sometime next month.

As the president-elect prepares to take power in a city where only two weeks earlier Trump supporters launched a violent attempt to overturn the election, Biden faces overlapping crises: not only the pandemic but a struggling economy, climate change and racial tensions.

Biden wants the Congress to act quickly on a massive, US$1.9 trillion stimulus plan to revive the economy, and he plans a blitz to accelerate America’s stumbling coronavirus vaccine rollout.

(SD-Xinhua)

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