By Adesoba Toluwalope
President of United States of America, Donald Trump, has pardoned over 100 people, including American rappers Kodak Black and Lil Wayne in his last hours in office.
Trump released the list on January 19, 2021.
American rapper, Bill Kahan Kapri popularly known as Kodak Black is in federal prison after pleading guilty to a firearms possession charge. He was detained at the Canadian-American border in March 2020.
Lil Wayne is a convicted felony, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr, and had also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a loaded weapon on a private jet while travelling to Miami in December 2020 according to a news report.
Carter as a convicted felon automatically means he was looking at 10 years in prison when sentenced on January 28, 2021.
Recall that the Grammy award-winning artist had surprised his fans and colleagues when he publicly tendered his support for Trump for re-election last October and posed for a pic.
Carter had tweeted with the picture, “Just had a great meeting with @realdonaldtrump @potus besides what he has done so far with criminal reform, the platinum plan is going to give the community real ownership. He listened to what we had to say today and assured he will and can get it done.”
An anonymous tip led by Miami police officers and federal agents on December 13, 2019 to search Carter’s jet where they found the loaded gun, in addition to reportedly cocaine, pain killers, ecstasy, marijuana, heroin and prescription-strength cough syrup, along with nearly $26,000 in cash. Carter was not charged with any drug offences.
Trump further pardoned his former campaign manager, Steve Bannon, and former Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilapatrick. However, Wikileaks’ Julian Assange and Edward Snowden were not on the list.
