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Brokers offer felons path to Trump pardons for high cost, CBS News investigation finds

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Brokers offer felons path to Trump pardons for high cost, CBS News investigation finds. (2026, September 14). CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/brokers-offer-felons-path-to-trump-pardons-for-high-cost-cbs-news-investigation-finds/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

CBS News · collected 2026-09-14

Quick Summary

CBS News reports that brokers are charging high fees to help individuals with felony convictions obtain presidential pardons from Donald Trump. The news outlet conducted an investigation revealing this practice, which is featured in a segment of the "60 Minutes" program by reporters Gabe Kaminsky and Daniel Klaidman.
Written by AI on 2026-09-14, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

CBS News uncovered that paid brokers are now offering felons a path to be pardoned by former President Trump for a high cost. The investigation revealed broker Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl pitching $300,000 services to Ammon Covino at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia, in August 2021. Covino had been denied clemency by Trump after serving nearly two years in prison for illegally transporting a shark and stingray across state lines. The brokers claimed they could secure pardons through extensive pressure on the president from various directions. Other influential brokers include Brett Tolman, Ches McDowell, Adam Katz, and Stefan Passantino, all with ties to Trump or his family members.

Written for “Trump Pardons Brokers” on 2026-10-31, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Pardons Brokers
Politics · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads centre and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Leaked video exposes $300,000 secret operation to score a Trump pardon Same event
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 1 of 35 claims Outlet record 68/100
Democrats vow to investigate Trump pardon brokers if party controls Congress Different event
CBS News
Hedges 2 of 35 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss the same issue of brokers offering pardons for payment, Article A reports on CBS News' investigation findings, whereas Article B reports on Democratic lawmakers' reaction to those findings.”
Pardon brokers offer to "put pressure on the president," at sky-high costs Different event
CBS News
Hedges 11 of 151 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A provides a general overview of paid brokers offering paths to pardons by President Trump, while Article B describes a specific sales pitch made by Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl to Ammon Covino at the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Although related, they are not describing the same specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
2
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 2 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Centre
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-14 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBS News · 4280 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

No reporter is named on this article.

Topics

CBS News CBS News'

Subjects

CBS News ORG · 2× Trump PERSON · 2× CBS News' ORG · 1× Daniel Klaidman PERSON · 1× Gabe Kaminsky PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Brokers offer felons path to Trump pardons for high cost, CBS News investigation finds Paid brokers are now offering felons a path to be pardoned by President Trump, a CBS News investigation shows.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-14
2026-09-14 · CBS News
Brokers offer felons path to Trump pardons for high cost, CBS News investigation finds · assertive framing

Claims (2 extracted, 0 hedged)

Brokers offer felons path to Trump pardons for high cost, CBS News investigation finds Paid brokers are now offering felons a path to be pardoned by President Trump, a CBS News investigation shows. asserted
investigation → offer → Trump
CBS News' Gabe Kaminsky and Daniel Klaidman have more on their 60 Minutes report. asserted
Kaminsky → have → report
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