Home · Politics · Sep 14 archive
White House Denies Trump Influenced by 'Pardon Brokers' After '60 Minutes' Investigation
Developing
In Short: The White House denied suggestions that President Trump's administration could be influenced by 'pardon brokers' in a segment by CBS' '60 Minutes'.
A White House spokesperson denied the suggestion that President Donald Trump's administration could be influenced by 'pardon brokers,' an issue examined by CBS' '60 Minutes' on Sunday. The segment reported on lobbyists reportedly negotiating for presidential pardons for particular clients based on alleged connections to the president.
According to reports, '60 Minutes' featured a segment on 'pardon brokers' or lobbyists seeking presidential pardons for a profit, highlighting the practice of those who can pay hiring pardon brokers, lawyers, and lobbyists to sell their ties to the president for exorbitant fees.
In response, a White House spokesperson stated, 'Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money and the President doesn’t even know who these so-called ‘lobbyists’ are. The Trump Administration has a robust pardon review process which includes White House counsel, the Department of Justice, pardon czar Alice Johnson, and ultimately, the President himself as the final decider.
The segment also criticized past presidential pardons by former President Joe Biden, pointing out that many of his pardons released violent criminals, a stance echoed by a Fox News correspondent who stated, 'The only pardons anyone should be critical of are from President Biden, who pardoned and commuted sentences of violent criminals including child killers and mass murderers, and extreme liberal Democrat Governors who pardoned illegal alien child rapists and attempted murderers in attempts to allow them to remain in our country.
What's still developing
- "Presidents have been pardoning criminals since George Washington," correspondent Lesley Stahl said.
- "President Trump, he's developed his own vetting system, pardoning political allies, including all of the January 6 rioters, as well as a string of unrepentant financial conmen who argued, just like him, that they were wrongly prosecuted," she continued.
- ‘PRIVILEGED’ HUNTER BIDEN, SPARED BY DAD’S PARDON, BLASTS TRUMP’S CLEMENCY POWER "We would not compromise our principles or reputations by jamming unverifiable notions or White House talking points into our reporting," Campanile wrote.
Sources
- Fox Newslink