Pardons Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Charles Kushner

In a brazen use of executive clemency, Trump pardoned Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, key figures in the Russia investigation who had refused to cooperate fully with prosecutors. He also pardoned Charles Kushner, Jared Kushner's father, who had been convicted of tax evasion and witness tampering (orchestrating a sex tape to blackmail his brother-in-law). The pardons signaled that personal loyalty to Trump placed associates above the rule of law.