Trump pardons Israeli colonel Aviem Sella who recruited spy Jonathan Pollard to collect US military secrets for the country
In one of his final acts as president, Donald Trump on Wednesday granted a full pardon to Aviem Sella, the recruiter of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, as part of a wave of clemency actions.
Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, sold military secrets to Israel while working at the Pentagon in the 1980s.
Sella, 75, a retired Israeli air force colonel, enlisted Pollard to spy for Israel and fled the United States after Pollard was arrested in 1985.
Sella was indicted in absentia by a federal grand jury in 1987 on three counts of espionage carrying a life sentence, but was never extradited to the US from Israel.
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Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Aviem Sella, 75, Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard's former handler
Sella , a retired Israeli air force colonel, enlisted Pollard to spy for Israel and fled the US after Pollard was arrested in 1985. Pollard pleaded guilty to spying on the US in 1986
Pollard speaking during an interview in a conference room at the Federal Correction Institution in Butner, North Carolina, in 1998
The Pollard case severely strained relations between Israel and the US.
The White House said in a statement that Sella's request for clemency received backing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli ambassador in Washington, the American ambassador to Israel, and Miriam Adelson, the widow of Republican megadonor and Trump supporter Sheldon Adelson who died last week.
'The State of Israel has issued a full and unequivocal apology, and has requested the pardon in order to close this unfortunate chapter in U.S.-Israel relations,' the White House said.
Pollard spent 30 years in US prison for spying for Israel. He was released on parole in 2015. Last month, Pollard immigrated to Israel and was welcomed on the tarmac by Netanyahu.
Pollard issued a statement welcoming Sella's pardon.
Pollard is seen falling to his knees alongside his wife in Israel on December 30 and being welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Netanyahu handed the Pollards Israeli ID cards on the tarmac
'This puts an end to the open wound of the episode after 35 years,' Pollard said. 'After the long years of suffering we endured, Esther and I want to focus solely on the future and not on the wounds of the past.'
One of Pollard's attorneys called on Sella to tell the whole truth about what happened three decades ago.
'We are happy about Sella's pardon, but we hope he will finally tell the truth and enable justice to see light,' lawyer Nitsana Darshan-Leitner told the Jerusalem Post. 'Pollard has been suffering for 35 years from malicious lies and false accusations that Sella could have easily proven untrue.
'The time has come for Sella to step out of the shadows and tell exactly what he knows about this patriot who suffered for 30 years in an American prison.'
Pollard leaves a New York courthouse following his release from prison early after 30 years on November 20, 2015
Sella's was one of 73 pardons that were issued by the outgoing president during his final days in office, along with the commutations of sentences of an additional 70 people.
Trump pardoned a raft of prominent allies, most notably his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was accused of swindling MAGA supporters as part of a $25million to build the border wall, as well as rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.
Trump did not pardon himself, despite speculation that he would, in the face of potential federal investigations. He had previously asserted that he had the authority to do so. He also did not pardon his children or his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.