últimas notícias

His choices appeared to be aimed at people who he viewed as the subject of unfair prosecutions or sentences, underscoring his own sense of grievance about being the subject of investigations he has derided as hoaxes and witch hunts.

Mr. Trump was particularly critical of the 14-year prison sentence for Mr. Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to essentially sell President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat for personal gain and once appeared on the reality series, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” which Mr. Trump hosted.

“That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my opinion,” Mr. Trump said after announcing that Mr. Blagojevich would go free after serving eight years in prison.

“Seemed like a very nice person, don’t know him,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

But critics lashed out at Mr. Trump’s actions, accusing him of abusing the pardon power, as some previous presidents have done, to reward friends and repair the reputations of convicted felons who do not deserve it.

“The pardoning of these disgraced figures should be treated as another national scandal by a lawless executive,” Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said in a statement. “In office, Trump has used pardons almost exclusively to shield unrepentant felons, racists, and corrupt scoundrels like Blagojevich and now Milken, one of the most prolific financial criminals in U.S. history.”