While the real economy is suffering, Donald Trump and the people around him created a new economy. The federal pardon process should be strict. Applications are submitted to the U.S. Pardon Attorney, investigations are conducted, and information is submitted to the President, who makes the final decision.
When Donald Trump returned to the White House for the second time, one of his first actions was to short-circuit this process to hand out pardons himself.
Trump’s behavior created what has been called the grace economy. For a fee, people with access to Trump would obtain pardons for their clients.
Concerned about the pardon economy, the White House tightened the pardon process. What the Trump White House didn’t say was that they were following the law and the existing process to the letter.
Trump has politicized the pardon process by pardoning allies and Republicans.
There also appears to be an important element of quid pro quo in some of Trump’s pardons.
Questions have also been raised about whether Trump has any idea who is pardoning.
The potentially soon-to-resign president did himself no favors when asked whether he would pardon Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
On 60 Minutes, Norah O’Donnell asked Trump, “I’m helping your family make millions of dollars. It’s in that context that I want to ask you about crypto’s richest man, a billionaire known as CZ. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti-money laundering laws. Looking at this, the administration said at the time that CZ had caused “significant harm to U.S. national security,” primarily by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars. around. Why did you pardon him?
The story and video continue below.
