Daniel Wolfram
A huge pardon scheme was just uncovered. In the middle of it stand two Trump loyalists.
Dagens.com has reported on the continuing allegations of rampant corruption supposedly happening within the White House administration and in Trump’s orbit.
The allegations ranges from no-bid government contracts, to a crypto firm connected to the president’s son, to a new financial rule that makes it easier to launder money through businesses.
Now, a new report from the news show 60 Minutes gets inside the highly lucrative business of trying to secure a pardon from Trump.
Trump has his own system for pardons
The idea of pardoning criminals is something that can be traced back to George Washington. It is a power only the president has and it cannot be vetoed by Congress or the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump has made this rule within the American judicial system an outlet for pardoning political allies and convicted financial businesspeople who apparently still have deep pockets.
So how do these convicted felons get their cases expedited? Apparently through donations and bribes. According to CBS News, about 92% of Trump’s pardons have not had any influence from the DOJ and many of the pardons came after some very hefty donations or well-timed business deals.
A hidden-camera investigation into the scheme
60 Minutes journalist Lesley Stahl found out that two men, Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, are taking money from people hoping to get a pardon from Donald Trump.
She eventually recorded them on hidden camera where they bragged about their scheme. They are “pardon brokers.” They are both Trump loyalists and both convicted felons who in one instance took $600,000 from rapper Boosie Badazz hoping to get a pardon out of the deal.
“Instead, they took his money and only gave back about half of the $600,000. I said, ‘Just return [the money], you didn’t get my pardon, it’s a bunch of BS,’” Badazz said. “And they were SO cocky.”
Wohl and Burkman speak
The two men have been sentenced for intimidating African American voters and trying to get them not to vote in the 2020 election. Stahl got them on the record where they categorically denied any wrongdoing while still acknowledging that they are taking money in exchange for clemency.
“There’s nothing corrupt about it. There’s nothing improper about it,” Jacob Wohl said. When Stahl said that it seems like taking money for a pardon is a slippery slope, Jack Burkman countered with, “We don’t work for free any more than you do, right? You’re well-paid for what you do. We’re well-paid for what we do. Navigating Washington, as you well know, is not an easy thing. The average person, the average rich person, they need help doing that.”
The White House denies any claim Trump is selling pardons.
“Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money,” the White House told 60 Minutes. “President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner, and to suggest otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.”
A Trump ideologue is now running 60 Minutes
The investigation into the two men kicked off the new season of 60 Minutes. This is the first iteration where the editor-in-chief of CBS News, Bari Weiss, is overseeing the program. Bari Weiss became the editor-in-chief after the Trump-friendly ally Larry Ellison bought Paramount, which owns CBS News.
This has caused a lot of criticism of Weiss, with critics alleging that she was not going to report fairly on the Trump presidency, especially after she spiked a story about the inhumane conditions Venezuelan men experienced after they were deported by the US to a prison in El Salvador.
If Weiss is willing to report on this, it raises the question of just how far the pardon scheme goes.
