U.S. President Donald Trump went on vacation on December 23, last year, before his retirement, and executed massive amnesty and commutation of 29 people, including his brother-in-law, Charles Kushner (center). The picture shows Kushner (center) attending a sentence in March 2005 in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey. Newark = AP Yonhap News
The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 17th (local time) that the’pardon market’ to buy indulgences for money in the United States has risen sharply as President Donald Trump’s retirement is nearing. It is an analysis that the president’s aides, who went on business to lobby for criminals who would no longer have an opportunity when President Trump leaves, lead the atmosphere.
The representative pardon lobbyist that NYT has nominated is Brett Tolman, a former federal prosecutor who has been advising the White House on pardons and reductions. According to the newspaper, he has made more than tens of thousands of dollars (tens of millions of won) in lobbying for amnesty in recent weeks. Customers include a former Arkansas Republican senator who wants his son to be pardoned, the founder of the notorious online drug market Silk Road, and a socialite in Manhattan, New York who admitted to remittance fraud.
Tolman, a federal prosecutor in Utah nominated by former President George W. Bush, supported the amendment of the sentencing law advocated by President Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Senior White House aide, and was invited to sign the White House in December 2018. Afterwards, he reported on his law firm’s website that he helped the amnesty and commutation of three people, including Charles Kushner, a wealthy real estate developer convicted of tax evasion, manipulation of witnesses, and violation of the election fund law. ‘And emerged as a prominent pardon request target.
Not only that. President Trump’s former private attorney, John Dodd, lobbied for pardon by showing off his friendship with President Trump and Aide Kushner, and received tens of thousands of dollars as a fee from Las Vegas wealthy sports gambler William T Walters, accused of insider trading. He said he took it. In addition, former Trump election camp adviser Karen Zono received $50,000 as an amnesty lobbying commission for former CIA employee John Kiriaku convicted of illegally disclosing confidential information. You get a bonus, NYT said.
US President Donald Trump gives a speech on the 12th after looking around the border between the United States and Mexico in Alamo, Texas. Alamo = AFP Yonhap News
The reason why the demand for pardons has soared is that criminals’ impatience that it is difficult to expect an’anomalous’ pardon once President Trump leaves has increased. The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 8th that at least 84 of the 94 people who were first pardoned or commuted by President Trump were “personally or politically connected to the president,” citing an investigation by Jack Goldsmith’s Harvard Law School professor team. have.
NYT pointed out that the’randomness’ of the exercise of President Trump’s pardon is difficult to find. Among the 170 people who were pardoned or reduced by former President Bill Clinton at the end of his term, the newspaper introduced that although some paid large sums to their families and close associates, this was done only after the Ministry of Justice carefully reviewed their qualifications. Margaret Love, who had been in charge of pardons and reductions at the US Department of Justice for seven years from 1990, told NYT, “This system of transactions and privileges undermines the Department’s long-standing efforts to at least look fair, ignoring the hundreds of people in line. I criticized it.”
President Trump is expected to impose a pile of amnesty. On the 18th, the US CNN broadcast cited three sources and reported that President Trump was preparing to pardon and reduce the sentence of about 100 people on the 19th, the day before retirement. CNN reported that the White House held a meeting on the 17th to determine the target, and white-collar criminals and famous rappers entered.
However, it is a message that the subject is still fluid. A source told CNN that complaints from close associates and interest groups were competing inside the White House until the last minute, and that additions or dropouts from the target list may continue until the announcement. President Trump’s amnesty is said to be the expectation of his aides that he is a person who can expect profit after retirement.
Kwon Kyung-seong reporter [email protected]
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