New York Times: Trump’s allies collected tens of thousands of dollars from claimants for forgiveness

New York Times: Trump’s allies collected tens of thousands of dollars from claimants for forgiveness

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The Times, citing documents and interviews with more than three dozen lobbyists and lawyers, reported that the clemency lobby intensified when it became apparent that Trump had no standing to challenge his electoral defeat for President-elect Joe Biden. Those who monetized the lobbying efforts include a former federal prosecutor, a former personal lawyer for the president and a former Trump campaign advisor, among others, the Times reported.

As CNN previously reported, Trump is expected to give a flood of pardons in the final days of his presidency and close business partners to the president and many high-profile criminals have stepped up efforts to secure forgiveness before he stepped down.

In late December, Trump was considering the forgiveness of more than two dozen people in his orbit who he believes are targets – or may be targets in the future – for political purposes. That is in addition to hundreds of requests from others who approached the White House directly, and tens of thousands of others whose petitions are pending at the Justice Department.

According to the Times, former US attorney Brett Tolman has raised tens of thousands of dollars in recent weeks to ask for clemency for several people. Tolman did not respond to the New York Times’ request for comment. CNN also contacted Tolman for comment.

Former Trump lawyer John Dowd also accepted “tens of thousands of dollars from a wealthy criminal and advised him and other potential clients to leverage Trump’s complaints about the justice system,” according to the Times . Dowd declined to answer the Times’ questions and comment on the report when contacted by CNN on Sunday.

And a former Trump campaign advisor received $ 50,000 to secure the forgiveness of John Kiriakou, a former CIA intelligence officer who was convicted of illegally disclosing confidential information in 2012, and agreed to a $ 50,000 bonus. if the president agreed, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the newspaper.

Kiriakou said, according to the Times, that an associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said the former New York mayor could help with a $ 2 million pardon. Giuliani dismissed these allegations to the Times. CNN contacted Giuliani for comment on Sunday.

The final days bring a new urgency to Trump's desire to forgive himself and his children

The White House did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Sunday and declined to comment to the Times.

The Times noted that “there is nothing illegal about Trump associates being paid to lobby for clemency” and that any explicit offer of payment to the president could be investigated for possible violations of bribery laws. There is no evidence, however, that Trump received money in exchange for forgiveness, according to the newspaper.

After Trump’s defeat in the re-election, calls and emails flooded the west wing of people looking to benefit. At one point, his team was so inundated with requests for pardons or commutations that a spreadsheet was created to track requests addressed to advisers close to Trump.

Trump has also discussed granting pardons to himself and his children with new urgency since the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, several sources familiar with the matter told CNN. However, advisers and allies are concerned about the public perception of such forgiveness after the violent uprising, which killed five people.
So far, the president has forgiven and commuted sentences from several people in his circle, including longtime friend Roger Stone, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former 2016 campaign advisor George Papadopoulos.

Jamie Gangel, Pamela Brown, Kara Scannell and Jason Hoffman of CNN contributed to this report.

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