Jonathan P. Baird

It is hard to imagine how our time will be remembered 100 years from now. Maybe the January 6 coup attempt will be remembered. Possibly the hatred directed against immigrants and the vicious ICE detentions and deportations will make the history books. I think what will be remembered is something more ordinary. I think the blatant corruption of the Trump regime is what will be remembered. It makes previous corruption scandals like Teapot Dome under President Harding or Watergate under President Nixon look like the minor leagues.

Trump corruption is the gold medal variety. His presidency has been a continuing story of self-dealing that constantly surpasses itself like an escalator that keeps going up. The primary goal of the Trump regime has been making money for Donald Trump and his family. Forbes says he has become $2.7 billion richer since winning the 2024 election.

One aspect of this wealth generation is the pardon economy that was featured in a recent episode of 60 Minutes. While not the biggest money maker, it epitomizes the sleazy Trump underbelly. Pardon brokers are selling pardons for exorbitant prices. The brokers are charging people anywhere from $300,000 to $3 million to get results. They want money both to put in applications and additional money later if they are successful.

No matter how noxious their crimes, extremely wealthy people who have been convicted and who were doing time in prison are buying their freedom by paying off Trump.The brokers use their right wing ties to Trump and the people around him to sell him on their clients.

Selling a government benefit is the definition of corruption. The two lobbyists who appeared on 60 Minutes, Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, acted like their behavior selling pardons was normal and some kind of standard practice. You would not know that for 150 years the Department of Justice has played a central role in the pardon process. There used to be a pardon attorney who went through a careful investigative vetting process that looked into the merits of a pardon.

That is completely gone now. It has been replaced by a scheme rooted in wealth and connections. Money gains access to the Trump orbit and the people who can then persuade the boss. There were egregious failings in the old system before Trump like Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich and Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon but 92% of all pardons are now outside the Department of Justice. It is 100% pay for play. The wealthy and well-connected get treated differently. If they have the dough, they purchase their freedom no matter their crimes.

The previous Pardon Attorney, Liz Oyer, has written about how the pardon process used to work. The Pardon Attorney sought the views of the U.S. Attorney’s Office who had prosecuted the case, the judge who imposed the sentence, and victims of the crime. If the candidate for a pardon appeared to meet pardon criteria, the Pardon Attorney’s office did a thorough background investigation through the FBI. The Pardon Attorney would then make a recommendation to the President. While the President has broad pardon authority under the Constitution, the process was key.

It was designed to insure only truly deserving people would get pardons. When Oyer was Pardon Attorney she said 90% of those seeking pardons did not have attorneys.

Trump fired Oyer when she opposed restoring gun rights to actor and Trump supporter Mel Gibson who had been convicted of domestic battery. The new pardon system is about rewarding Trump allies and those who can pay him big money regardless of the crimes they committed.

There are many examples to cite. Trump pardoned crypto felon Changpeng Zhao whose company Binance enriched Trump family cryptocurrency. He pardoned Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive who cheated on his taxes to finance a lavish lifestyle that included purchase of a two million dollar yacht. This pardon came days after Walczak’s mother attended a $1 million-a-plate dinner at Mar-a-Lago. And then, of course, there was Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon.

Trump’s pardons have wiped away massive restitution payments owed to the victims of crimes. Oyer has tracked the price of Trump’s pardons that owed restitution and fines. As of July, the cost to taxpayers and crime victims is more than $1.3 billion.

Pardons are now shrouded in secrecy. Never have they been less transparent. Just a week ago, Trump granted pardons to 30 people. The White House made no announcement of the clemency action and no list of those pardoned was released. One Philadelphia union official who was serving six years for bribery and who had embezzled $600,000 from his union was announced. After protest and publicity the White House released the names. Ordinarily in the past before Trump, the White House did a press release announcing all pardoned with the rationale for the pardons.

We do not know if Trump has secretly pardoned people. Usually the end of a presidential term is when most pardons are announced but no one knows what bribes and deals have already been cut. Considering the rampant criminality around Trump, it is likely there will be many wanting to be on the pardon list.

It remains a federal offense to pay bribes to public officials for the purpose of getting a pardon. While the President himself can claim immunity under the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, that is not true for others around him. There is a need for legislation to insure more transparency and protection against bribery.

The tragedy is that the presidential pardon power was intended to be used for mercy and for earned second chances. Under Trump, it has been reduced to a racket where the worst rich people use their wealth to buy their way out of paying for heinous crimes.