A couple of months into his second term, after Donald Trump issued a controversial pardon for one of his donors, he was pressed for an explanation. The president appeared clueless: “They” told him that the criminal had been treated unfairly, the Republican said, which was enough for him to sign a pardon.
Last week, it happened again. On Thursday morning, Trump signed a scandalous pardon for Changpeng Zhao, who helped finance the president’s stablecoin and put money in the Trump family’s pockets. Asked why he’d taken such a step, the president initially replied, “I don’t know,” before eventually saying that “a lot of very good people” told him it’d be the right move.
The president didn’t elaborate on who, exactly, these “very good people” might be, but the significance of the comments was not lost on those who work on K Street in Washington, D.C., which is home to some highly influential political lobbyists. Politico reported:
President Donald Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao is a remarkable turn of fortune for the entrepreneur who just over a year ago was serving prison time for allowing money launderers access to his cryptocurrency trading platform. It’s also the latest example of what’s possible in Trump’s Washington for those who can afford the right lobbyists.
The report added that the developments surrounding the Zhao pardon were “a show of force” for “the lobbyists who helped make the pardon happen.”
That summary might sound like a routine description of events at the White House, but let’s not brush past it too quickly: Americans are increasingly looking at a law enforcement dynamic in which the incumbent president, at least in some instances, doesn’t fully know whose pardons he’s approving, leaving “very good people” with enormous influence over who receives “get out of jail free” cards.
That also means, of course, that there’s a quiet race underway to hire those with influence. For example, NBC News reported last week:
A corrupt New Jersey businessman who used gold bars to bribe former Sen. Bob Menendez paid $1 million to a Washington, D.C., lobbyist to try to ask for clemency from President Donald Trump, three sources familiar with the matter said. Lobbying disclosure forms show convicted felon Fred Daibes paid Keith Schiller and his Javelin Advisors firm seeking ‘executive relief’ for his seven-year prison sentence.
Time will tell whether Daibes’ investments pay dividends, but what’s remarkable is the degree to which Trump and his team have created something that isn’t supposed to exist: a marketplace for criminals seeking relief.
The New York Times reported earlier this year that Trump-connected lobbyists “have scrambled to take advantage” of this dynamic, collecting “large fees from clemency seekers who would not be eligible for second chances under apolitical criteria that are intended to guide a Justice Department system for recommending mercy for those who have served their time or demonstrated remorse and a lower likelihood of recidivism.” In 2025, those with the right resources and the right connections are, the Times added, “mostly circumventing that system.” Or, put another way, a growing number of people are under the impression that if they write big enough checks, there’s a possibility the president who’s already corrupted the federal pardon process will look kindly on them, too, regardless of merit, evidence or the seriousness of their crimes. When assessing the GOP’s “culture of corruption,” this belongs near the top of the list.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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