Trump pardons Blackwater guards jailed for Iraq massacre, other controversial figures

US President Donald Trump Tuesday issued a controversial pardon to several individuals, including two members of his campaign team connected with the investigation into Trump's alleged cooperation with Russia, and members of the security firm Blackwater.

His move is causing more controversy and comes at a time when the Republican president continues to refuse to acknowledge his defeat to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in the November elections.

The White House announced in a statement that the outgoing president granted a complete pardon to about 15 people and partially or completely reduced the sentences issued against five others.

A complete pardon was granted to George Papadopoulos, a former Trump advisor during his 2016 campaign, who admitted that he had lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians. 

Papadopoulos was Trump's foreign affairs advisor when Trump ran for president in 2016.

He admitted in October 2017 that he had lied to the FBI about his contacts with a professor who had promised to introduce him to senior Russian officials.

He collaborated with the investigators of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, who conducted a two-year investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump team. The investigation was not able to establish collusion between Moscow and the Republican billionaire.

Papadopoulos spent 12 days in prison.

The White House said, "Today's pardon corrects the damage that Mueller has done to so many people."

Tuesday, Trump pardoned Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zvan, who was accused in the Russian investigation.

The pardons also included four Blackwater security guards convicted of killing Iraqis in 2007, including Nicholas Slatten, who was sentenced to life in prison.

They were found guilty of opening fire in the crowded Nisour Square in Baghdad on September 16, 2007, in an incident that caused an international scandal and growing discontent with the American presence. The shooting killed at least 14 Iraqi civilians and injured 17 others.

The guards said at the time that they acted in self-defense in response to gunfire.

The White House statement said the four former military personnel had a "long history of serving the nation."

The amnesty list also included three former Republican members of Congress.

- "If you lie" -

The announcement drew swift condemnation from Trump's opponents, including the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, the Democratic House of Representatives, Adam Schiff.

"If you lie to cover up the president, you will get a pardon. If you are a corrupt politician who declares your support for Trump, you will get an amnesty. If you kill civilians during the war, you will get an amnesty," Schiff said in a statement.

The American Civil Liberties Union specifically criticized the amnesty for Blackwater members.

"President Trump has reached a disgraceful new level with the Blackwater amnesty," said Hina Shamsi, director of the National Security Project for the Civil Liberties Union.

"I condemn these military contractors for their role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians, and their actions led to devastation in Iraq, shame and terror in the United States and a global scandal. President Trump insults the memory of the Iraqi victims and further degrades his position with this behavior," she added.

Outgoing Republican Congressman Will Heard also criticized the move on Twitter, saying that "pardoning elected persons of privileged power for deliberately committing crimes they confessed to committing is not a conservative policy at all."

Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Twitter: "Nothing he does is surprising anymore, but what a scandalous, partisan and gross abuse of power."

"This is the swamp at its worst. January 20 seems far away," he added.