Pardon brokers offer to "put pressure on the president," at sky-high costs

It was mid-August at the bar inside the plush Ritz-Carlton hotel in Tysons Corner, Virginia, just outside Washington, and Jack Burkman and his business partner Jacob Wohl were making their latest sales pitch. asserted

They were seated at a table with Ammon Covino, a convicted felon, and his wife, Crystal. asserted

"With this particular White House, you have to put pressure on the president from all directions in a consistent way to force his hand," Burkman explained. asserted

He and Wohl, lobbyists and right-wing provocateurs, had become avatars of a lucrative new cottage industry of brokers courting those seeking pardons from President Trump. asserted

Now, they were zeroing in on the man they hoped would be their next client: Covino, an aquarium operator who served nearly two years in federal prison for illegally transporting a shark and a stingray across state lines. asserted

Covino had already filled out and submitted a pardon application form by mail to the Biden Justice Department. asserted

But his request was rejected in July by Mr. Trump, one of thousands of pardon-seekers denied clemency as part of the administration's effort to clear its backlog of applicants. asserted

Mr. Trump has employed a to clemency over the last 18 months. asserted

On his first day in office, more than 1,500 people charged or convicted in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot through pardons, commutations and dropped prosecutions. asserted

Dozens of clemency grants for white-collar criminals, often wealthy and well-connected, have followed. asserted

Burkman and Wohl's pitch at the Ritz-Carlton meeting leaned into what they described as a new path to a pardon. asserted

"It's more energy and less process," Burkman said. asserted

But it would come with a price, they told Covino. asserted

For $300,000, they predicted, they could secure him a pardon by as early as October. uncertain

What they didn't know was that Covino wasn't a real prospective client. asserted

CBS News' 60 Minutes was investigating the world of pardon brokers. asserted

To uncover exactly how this business operated, CBS News asked Covino to approach the brokers — with hidden cameras in tow. asserted

The coin of the realm The archetypical pardon recipient is a repentant mercy-seeker who has paid his due to society. asserted

Presidents have long deviated from that formula, and long courted controversy. asserted

President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. asserted

President Carter pardoned Vietnam draft-dodgers. asserted

On his final day in office, President Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a fugitive financier whose wife, Denise Rich, was a major donor to the Clinton presidential library. asserted

In December 2024, President Biden faced scrutiny for 11th-hour pardons of allies, donors and family, including his son, , who was convicted on firearms charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion in a separate case. asserted

Biden also preemptively pardoned Anthony Fauci. asserted

Yet there is near-unanimity among the federal prosecutors, defense attorneys and other sources who discussed the clemency process with CBS News: asserted

There has never been such a dizzying pardon economy as there is in Washington right now — a Wild West of clemency populated by MAGA-connected brokers and influencers — where the old norms have been largely tossed aside. asserted

Previously, those seeking clemency typically went through the Justice Department. asserted

More than two dozen DOJ lawyers weighed factors that often included an applicant's remorse and evidence of rehabilitation, and recommended worthy recipients to the president. asserted

That process has been largely sidelined, according to sources with direct knowledge of the clemency process. uncertain

About 70% of Mr. Trump's clemency actions in his second term were not routed through the Justice Department (and that number is 92% when including the Jan. 6 cases), according to a CBS News analysis of Justice Department data. uncertain

Brokers seek out ways to influence Mr. Trump — through contacts in the White House, by deploying MAGA influencers, or by working with others close to the president. asserted

Access is the coin of the realm, and on the promise of delivering that access, brokers now charge fees that can reach as high as $3 million, sources told CBS News. asserted

"There's an industry that's built up around helping people get access to this system that should be free, that should be available to everybody," said Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. asserted

He runs a pro bono clinic for people convicted of federal crimes to help them apply to the Justice Department for clemency. asserted

Now, he said clemency-seekers think: "'If I can get to this person who can find the president at Mar-a-Lago, if I can pay a million dollars to this friend of a White House counsel, then I will have a shot.' asserted

Part of this industry operates in full view: Lobbyists disclose clemency clients and fees to Congress. asserted

That list has grown steadily over Mr. Trump's first two years in office. asserted

But how they work — what they promise to clemency-seekers, how much they charge and how they navigate the process — is often shrouded in secrecy. asserted

CBS News sought interviews with a number of clemency brokers about their work, and they either declined or did not respond to our requests. asserted

Among those were several influential brokers with ties to the president, including Brett Tolman, a former U.S. attorney in Utah; Ches McDowell, a lawyer and registered lobbyist who is close to Donald Trump Jr. and helped secure a pardon for Changpeng Zhao — a cryptocurrency billionaire who was convicted of violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws; Adam Katz, an attorney who previously represented former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; and Stefan Passantino, a former Trump White House official. asserted