An associate of Rudy Giuliani told a former CIA officer that the presidential pardon “would cost $ 2 million,” the New York Times reported on Sunday in the latest bombing in the last chaotic days of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The report detailed a widespread and, in some cases, profitable lobby involving people seeking forgiveness as Trump’s time in office ran out. The 45th president, charged twice, will step down on Wednesday with the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who was arrested in 2012 for revealing the identity of an agent involved in torture, told the Times that he laughed at the observation of Giuliani’s partner, the former New York mayor who, as a personal lawyer for Trump, is supposedly a possible recipient of forgiveness.
“Two million dollars – have you gone crazy?” Kiriakou supposedly said. “Even if I had two million dollars, I would not spend it to recover a pension of $ 700,000.”
An associate from Kiriakou reported the conversation to the FBI, the Times said.
In order to reward offenders who show contrition, presidential pardons do not imply innocence. Presidents often use them to reward allies, but Trump has taken the practice to extremes.
Recent recipients of pardons or acts of leniency include Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia; the dirty political cheater Roger Stone, who did not turn against Trump during the investigation in Russia where he was convicted of obstructing Congress; Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager convicted in the investigation in Russia; and Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was convicted of tax fraud and witness retaliation.
The Times report detailed an “ad hoc” White House system for pardoning approval, which he said was administered by young Kushner, bypassing the “justice department’s intensive review process aimed at identifying and examining the most deserving recipients among thousands of clemency requests “.
The report also identified lobbyists who said they were seeking forgiveness on behalf of paying clients.
Margaret Love, who has been a United States attorney for pardon in the Department of Justice for seven years, told the newspaper: “This type of influence peddling outside of books, a special privilege system denies consideration to the hundreds of ordinary people who obediently lined up as required by the Department of Justice rules, and is a basic violation of the longstanding effort to make this process at least seem fair. “
Trump will lose legal protection as soon as he leaves office and faces potential and ongoing threats. He reportedly discussed issuing preventive pardons to himself, Kushner, Giuliani and other family members and close advisers. It is not clear whether personal forgiveness would work.
Pardons issued when the president leaves the White House are not uncommon. Infamously, Bill Clinton forgave fugitive financier Marc Rich on his last day as president in 2001.
Kiriakou told the Times that his search for forgiveness came during a meeting with Giuliani on another matter, at the Trump International Hotel in Washington last year.
During the meeting, which supposedly “involved a lot of alcohol”, Giuliani went to the bathroom. It was then, said Kiriakou, that Giuliani’s unidentified associate told him: “It will cost $ 2 million – he will want two million dollars.”
The Times said Giuliani rejected Kiriakou’s version of events and said he did not work as a forgiveness broker because he already represented Trump.
“It’s like a conflict of interest,” he was quoted, adding that, although he had heard that large fees were being offered by pardons, “I have enough money. I am not starving. “
It was reported this week that Trump, angry with Giuliani for the failure of nearly all the lawsuits mounted against the election results, told the team not to pay his attorney fees.
Ken Frydman, Giuliani’s press secretary in the 1990s, said: “Lie with the dogs. Wake up with fleas and no $ 20,000 a day. “