Last fall, during a briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “When it comes to pardons, the White House takes them with the utmost seriousness.” Donald Trump’s top spokesperson added that each pardon is subjected to “a very thorough review process,” conducted by a team of “qualified lawyers.”
I continue to believe this was one of the more unintentionally amusing things Leavitt has ever said.
In fact, NOTUS published a report this week, based on accounts from multiple sources familiar with the White House’s pardon process, who described a chaotic system in which clemency is often extended to those with the right access, to the right people, with the right “narrative.” From the article:
More than a year in, the White House’s pardon process remains a puzzle for those trying to navigate, and in some cases profit, from it. The nearly dozen people who NOTUS spoke with — including sources both outside the Trump administration, like lawyers and lobbyists, and inside the White House — described an ever-changing situation. Many said it is predicated on who has access and who can create the most appealing stories for their clients.
Someone directly involved in the pardon process told NOTUS, “There is no process, there is no right way to do this. It’s chaos.”
To be sure, the same NOTUS report included White House denials, including an insider who wanted to assure the public that there’s “a defined process” in place.
The problem, however, is that these assurances are very difficult to believe. Throughout his tenure, Trump has issued pardons based on his whims and sense of grievance, not anything resembling thorough scrutiny by qualified lawyers.
Complicating matters is the result of the apparent disorder: The longer the president’s list of scandalous pardons grew, the more the White House confronted unprecedented questions about whether pardons are effectively for sale.
Indeed, such questions became unavoidable after the Republican president started rewarding generous donors with clemency, culminating in a Wall Street Journal report, published shortly before Christmas, that described a dynamic that has “spawned a pardon-shopping industry where lobbyists say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal, according to people familiar with the offers.”
A serious and structured process would prevent such a “pardon-shopping industry,” which has no modern precedent in American politics, from taking root. But the more the White House process descends into chaos, the more it opens the door to apparent corruption.
