60 Minutes has a convicted felon go undercover to talk to “pardon brokers,” people who will try to get you a pardon from Trump if you pay them.

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  • 60 Minutes season opener, Lesley Stahl. Ammon Covino, wildlife-trafficking felon, applied the normal way and got rejected. CBS sent him undercover to a dozen “pardon brokers.” Burkman and Wohl bit in seven minutes.
  • Mid-August, Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. Hidden cameras. Burkman: with this White House you pressure the president from all directions. $300,000. Mar-a-Lago events. $10,000 fundraiser tickets. Influencers. “Put the pen in his hand.”
  • Same pair took $600,000 from rapper Boosie Badazz on a gun case. He says they promised a pardon and half back if they failed. No pardon. No refund. Texts dropped names: Loomer, Erika Kirk (misspelled), Mike Johnson, Natalie Harp. Those people denied it.
  • Joseph Schwartz, nursing-home fraud, paid their firm $960,000. Trump later pardoned him. White House said Burkman and Wohl did not meet officials on that file.
  • They pleaded guilty in Ohio in 2022 to telecom fraud over 2020 robocalls aimed at Black voters. Michigan no-contest in 2025. FCC mega-fine. They register as lobbyists and have to disclose the felonies.
  • White House spokesperson Lauren Bis: no relationship with the president. Former pardon-attorney official Ed Martin called operators like this snake-oil salesmen and said he saw no quid pro quo.
  • Other shops exist. Fees reported up to $3 million. Names in the same coverage: Brett Tolman, Stefan Passantino, Ches McDowell, Adam Katz. Clemency lobbying is old. Volume and the skip-DOJ path got louder this term.

Season premiere sting. Boosie $600,000. White House: no relationship.
https://people.com/60-minutes-returns-with-hidden-camera-report-on-maga-pardon-brokers-12120757

Same pair as the old Buttigieg hoax, now selling pardons on camera.
https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/jacob-wohl-and-jack-burkman

 

 

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