Seeking a pardon under Trump had become “a rational thing” for convicted criminals and those fighting charges, one defence lawyer said. “We are seeing an industrial-scale pardon business,” said one lawyer with knowledge of the process. But what matters most, say people involved in petitioning for Trump pardons, is getting to the president’s inner circle. A White House official told the Financial Times that “no one from White House Counsel ever met the Schwartz lobbyists”. His co-defendant Fred Daibes hired lobbyist Keith Schiller, a former Trump bodyguard and White House official, for $1 million, seeking “executive relief”.

Source: The Irish Times December 20, 2025 02:38 UTC