In final hours, Donald Trump granted clemency to 143 people

Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One at the White House on Wednesday. He is en route to his Mar-a-Lago Florida Resort. Pic/AP

Donald Trump pumped his fist and waved as he boarded Marine One on Wednesday for the last time as president. Trump departed the office twice impeached, with millions more out of work and 4,00,000 dead from COVID-19.

Trump will be the first president in modern history to boycott his successor's inauguration, but he followed one presidential tradition. The White House says he left behind a note for his successor.

In his final hours, Trump pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a flurry of clemency action that benefited 142 others, including rap performers, ex-members of Congress and other allies of him and his family. But he did not pardon himself or his own family.

"Steve Bannon is getting a pardon from Trump after defrauding Trump's own supporters into paying for a wall that Trump promised Mexico would pay for," Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted.

Wednesday's list includes its share of high-profile defendants. Among them were rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, both convicted in Florida on weapons charges. Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter, has frequently expressed support for Trump and recently met with the president on criminal justice issues. Others on the list included Death Row Records co-founder Michael Harris and New York art dealer and collector Hillel Nahmad.

Trump also commuted the prison sentence of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who has served about seven years behind bars for a racketeering and bribery scheme.