As was expected, Donald Trump has decided to grant a full pardon to Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., aka Lil Wayne, according to a statement from the White House. The Trump administration released the statement, which outlines pardons to 73 people and commutations of sentences to another 70, early on Wednesday morning, just hours before the reality television star’s term as president ends.
Wayne pleaded guilty to a 2019 gun charge in December of 2020 and was facing significant prison time. News of Wayne getting off the hook comes on the heels of the rapper posting a picture he took with Trump back in late October.
Bill K. Kapri aka Kodak Black and former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted of multiple federal felony counts and sentenced to 28 years, were granted commutations by the outgoing president. Kodak is currently in prison on a 46 month sentence for falsifying federal forms to buy firearms. The Florida rapper’s criminal sexual conduct case is still pending.
Trump’s former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon was also pardoned by Trump. Bannon, along with three other people, were charged with defrauding donors in a scheme in which they claimed money was being raised for Trump’s border wall.
Joe Exotic, the subject of Netflix’s popular Tiger King docu-series, was not granted a pardon or commutation by Trump despite lobbying for one.
Prior to news of Kodak Black getting his sentence commuted and Lil Wayne receiving a pardon was announced, it was reported that Death Row Records co-founder Michael “Harry-O” Harris’ sentence was commuted by Trump. Harris has been in prison for over three decades on drug trafficking and murder charges.
As previously mentioned, Donald Trump’s wave of commutations and pardons arrive as he is preparing to officially leave office in just a few hours. Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States at noon EST after defeating Trump at the polls by over 7 million more popular votes in the 2020 election.
