Donald Trump pardons Roger Stone and Paul Manafort who were convicted in Russia probe

Donald Trump continues to hand out pardons to close friends and associates before he departs the White House next month, with Roger Stone among the second wave to receive one.

The US president had already commuted the criminal sentence of Mr Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress under oath about his efforts to find out more about when WikiLeaks would publish damaging emails about Hillary Clinton in 2016.

A commutation often takes the form of a reduced prison term, but the conviction continues to stand. But Stone has now been completely pardoned by the president.

Another of Trump's cronies to receive a pardon from the outgoing president, who lost the election to former vice-president Joe Biden last month, include his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Manafort was convicted as part of the special counsel probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

The Manhattan district attorney's office, which has been trying to prosecute Manafort in New York for mortgage fraud and other alleged crimes, said it would continue to pursue an appeal for its case, which was dismissed on double jeopardy grounds.

"This action underscores the urgent need to hold Mr Manafort accountable for his crimes against the People of New York as alleged in our indictment, and we will continue to pursue our appellate remedies," said Danny Frost, spokesman for the office.

In the second wave of pardons, coming as the president arrived in Florida for the holiday season, he also gave one to Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Kushner was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and making unlawful campaign donations.

In an unusual twist, the man who prosecuted Charles Kushner was Chris Christie, now the former governor of New Jersey, who also has served as an adviser to Trump.

Christie was quoted by CNN as saying Charles Kushner's case was "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he prosecuted.

In total, Trump issued on Wednesday full pardons to 26 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional three people.

Facing the end of his term in January, Trump has now granted full pardons to four major figures from US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Besides Manafort and Stone, Trump has pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former adviser George Papadopoulos.

In total, he issued on Wednesday full pardons to 26 individuals and commuted part or all of the sentences of an additional three people.

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