Miami
Investigation spotlights pardon brokers selling access around Trump
CBS News used hidden cameras to examine how political operatives pitch presidential pardons to potential clients for steep fees. The report describes a Washington marketplace built around access, influence and direct channels to the White House.
A CBS News and 60 Minutes investigation is shedding light on a growing business in Washington: brokers who promise to help clients win presidential pardons from Donald Trump by leveraging access, political pressure and insider connections.
The report centers on Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, two lobbyists and right-wing provocateurs who pitched Ammon Covino, an aquarium operator with a federal wildlife trafficking conviction, during an August meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Hidden cameras captured the conversation as the two men said they could secure a pardon for $300,000, possibly by October.
According to CBS News, Covino was not actually seeking to hire them. He was working with the network as part of its investigation into how pardon brokers operate, what they charge and what they claim to be able to deliver.
During the meeting, Burkman described a strategy of pressing the president from multiple directions at once to force action. He told Covino that in this White House, success depended less on formal process and more on sustained energy and contacts.
CBS News reported that Covino had already submitted a pardon application on his own through the Justice Department during the Biden administration, but that Trump rejected the request in July as part of a broader effort to deal with a backlog of clemency applications.
The investigation argues that the traditional Justice Department route has been pushed aside. Based on a CBS News analysis of Justice Department data, about 70% of Trump’s clemency actions in his second term did not go through DOJ, a figure that rises to 92% when Jan. 6 cases are included.
In that environment, CBS News said, brokers with MAGA ties have moved aggressively to market their access to the president or his orbit. Sources cited by the network said fees in this business can run as high as $3 million.
Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas who runs a pro bono clemency clinic, told CBS News that an industry has grown around access to a system that should be free and open to everyone.
The report also examined Brett Tolman, a former U.S. attorney in Utah, who told Covino in an August phone call that he does not send clemency applications to the Justice Department and instead forwards them directly to the White House. CBS News said Tolman did not answer detailed questions about that exchange.
White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told CBS News that the Trump administration has a robust pardon review process involving White House counsel, the Justice Department, Alice Marie Johnson and the president as the final decision-maker. White House Counsel Will Scharf said Trump carries out his constitutional duties in an ethical manner. Bis also said anyone paying lobbyists for pardons is wasting money and that the president does not even know these supposed lobbyists.
Burkman and Wohl denied to CBS News that they are part of a pay-to-play system. They said they simply help clients navigate Washington and insisted their work complies with the law.
The investigation also revisited the pair’s legal history. In 2022, they pleaded guilty in Ohio to fraud tied to an illegal robocall scheme aimed at suppressing Black voters and received probation. In 2025, they entered no contest pleas in Michigan in a voter intimidation case and again received probation.
CBS News further reported that Burkman and Wohl’s firm disclosed earning $960,000 from Joseph Schwartz, a nursing home operator who later received a Trump pardon in November 2025, three months into a three-year prison term. Burkman told the network they believed Schwartz had been wrongly convicted and in poor health, while victims affected by Schwartz’s business collapse said the pardon system appeared to favor those able to pay.
At the Ritz-Carlton meeting, Burkman described the goal as surrounding Trump with repeated messages about a client until he was ready to sign. CBS News said the White House has become increasingly sensitive to any impression that pardons are being sold.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
