CNN reported on the 17th that President Trump’s allies and aides charged tens of thousands of dollars from those seeking presidential pardon.
The New York Times quoted documents and interviews with more than 30 lobbyists and lawyers reported that as Trump gradually disqualified from the court to challenge the election results, lobbying for “lenient treatment” began to intensify.
Those who “hussed” the lobbying included a former federal prosecutor, a former private lawyer for the president and a former senior Trump campaign adviser.
CNN previously reported that Trump is expected to issue a series of presidential amnesty in the last days of his term, and the president’s close business partners and many well-known criminals are intensifying their efforts to obtain amnesty before Trump leaves office.
By late December, Trump was considering pardoning more than 20 people in his small circle, who he believed were targeted for political purposes — or could be targeted in the future.
In addition, hundreds of people, as many as tens of thousands, have filed requests directly to the White House, and their applications are piled up at the Department of Justice for processing.
The New York Times reported that Brett Tolman, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, has raised tens of thousands of dollars in recent weeks to seek leniency for several people.
John Dowd, a former Trump lawyer, also accepted “the tens of thousands of dollars from a rich felon and the advice to take advantage of Trump’s dissatisfaction with the judicial system”.
A copy of the agreement obtained by The New York Times shows that a former senior adviser to the Trump campaign was paid $50,000 to ensure that John Kiriakou, a former CIA intelligence officer convicted of illegal disclosure of confidential information in 2012, was awarded The president granted amnesty.
Kiriaku reportedly said that an aide to Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, claimed that the former mayor of New York could help him file a $2 million presidential pardon request. In an interview, Giuliani denied these claims.
However, the New York Times pointed out that “it is not illegal for Trump’s aides to charge in exchange for leniency” and any explicit bribery to the president may be investigated for violating the bribery law.
However, there is no evidence that Trump has offered to exchange money for amnesty.
After Trump’s re-election defeat, his staff were once overwhelmed by a large number of requests for pardon or commutation of sentence. Several people familiar with the matter told CNN that since the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, Trump has also discussed the urgency of issuing amnesty for himself and his children.
However, after the violence that killed five people, aides and allies were worried about the public’s response to the pardon.
So far, President Trump has pardoned and commuted several people in his circle, including Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, Charles Kushner, father of Jared Kushner, old friend Roger Stone, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and 201 Six-year campaign assistant George Papadopoulos.
