Paid brokers tout ties to Trump's orbit to lobby for presidential pardons

Presidents have been pardoning criminals since George Washington. It's a constitutional power — no explanation needed.

The Department of Justice does screen applicants and typically only recommends those who remorsefully seek mercy. But that's not always been the process: President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon. President Clinton pardoned Marc Rich after donations. President Biden pardoned his son Hunter and Anthony Fauci.

President Trump? He's developed his own vetting system: pardoning political allies — including all of the Jan. 6 rioters — as well as a string of unrepentant financial conmen who argued — just like him — that they were wrongly prosecuted.

How do these people get their grievances in the president's ear? Donations appear to help, and those who-can-pay hire pardon brokers: lawyers and lobbyists who sell their ties to the president, for exorbitant fees. It's a marketplace of money and mercy.

Ammon Covino is seeking a pardon. Seated is his wife Crystal and joining them at this Virginia hotel lounge are lobbyists Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, who don't know they're being recorded as they pitch their services as pardon brokers.

JACK (AT BAR): Look, you can't, you can't just submit a pardon application. It doesn't work that way.

Ammon is a felon. The Covinos run several zoos and aquariums. A decade ago, he was convicted of illegal wildlife trafficking and served 23 months in prison. He applied for a pardon taking the regular route through the Justice Department.

We had wanted to interview brokers who promise pardon seekers they can circumvent the Justice Department — for a hefty fee. What they do is not illegal, yet none would talk to us. So we asked Ammon to engage with these access merchants as if he's reapplying for a pardon and let our cameras follow him. First, he emailed a dozen of these brokers.

AMMON: Some got right away and some within a day. Right away, "Yes, exclamation point, exclamation point." "We're the people that can help you do that." I kept saying, "This feels illegal." And I get on my AI and say, "Is this illegal?" "No, this is how it's done."

In a series of phone calls, one broker after another bragged about their close relationships to President Trump's inner circle.

Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl are Trump loyalists with a long resume of political stunts. Their robocall scheme to suppress Black voting in 2020 led to a criminal conviction. Now in the pardons game, they claim they got one for this owner of a nursing home chain, convicted of massive tax fraud. He paid them nearly a million dollars for their promise to reach the president. We found that some brokers charge as much as $3 million. So we decided to use hidden cameras and sent the Covinos to meet Burkman and Wohl.

JACK (AT BAR): I don't think your pardon, I don't think it will be too difficult.

They said they would put Ammon's pardon plea in the hands of the president — and push.

JACK: With this particular White House, you have to put pressure on the president from all directions in a consistent way to force his hand. We literally want to put the pen in his hand and get him to sign it because he's tired of hearing about it.