Dems Investigate What Trump Pardon Beneficiaries Paid For Clemency In Alleged “Pay-to-Play” Scheme

Senate Democrats and House Democrats on May 7 opened a bicameral investigation into whether President Donald Trump and his White House granted pardons and commutations in exchange for money, access, or political influence.

The lawmakers, led by Sen. Peter Welch, Rep. Dave Min, and Rep. Raul Ruiz, sent letters to more than a dozen clemency recipients and asked for records tied to donations, lobbying, and any intermediaries who may have sought favorable treatment. The inquiry, first reported by CBS News, centers on whether a pay-to-play system allowed wealthy defendants to get a break while crime victims, investors, and taxpayers lost out on court-ordered penalties.

Lawmakers are focusing on wealthy recipients whose clemency followed major political funding

Image credits: U.S. Department of State / Flickr

The investigation comes after a series of Trump pardons that erased nearly $2 billion in restitution, fines, and forfeitures. A Democratic staff review by the House Judiciary Committee found that as of January 20, 2026, Trump’s clemency actions across both terms had wiped out $1.3 billion owed directly to victims and taxpayers. A later analysis by the California Governor’s Office found the total climbed to nearly $2 billion, including forfeitures and other penalties.

Trump began issuing clemency grants on January 20, 2025, eventually covering more than 1,600 individuals, including about 1,500 January 6 defendants. Democrats say the new letters aim to test whether some of the most high-profile cases followed a pattern: large political donations, expensive fundraising access, or heavy pardon lobbying followed by mercy from the president. The lawmakers asked recipients to respond by May 22.

Image credits: Getty Images

Among the cases under scrutiny is Trevor Milton (pictured above), the Nikola founder who was convicted in 2022 of securities fraud and wire fraud and sentenced in December 2023. Trump pardoned Milton in March 2025, clearing about $680 million in restitution, after Milton and his wife donated $3 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign. The White House says the donation played no role in the decision.

Lawmakers are also looking at Paul Walczak, a former nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Trump pardoned him in May 2025, less than three weeks after his mother attended a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser where attendees paid $1 million each, according to the reporting.

Another case involves Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan billionaire facing bribery charges. After his daughter contributed $3.5 million to MAGA Inc., federal prosecutors allowed him to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor in a deal a judge reportedly called “a slap on the wrist.” Trump later pardoned him in January 2026.

The inquiry also reaches beyond those names to people such as Changpeng Zhao (pictured below), the cryptocurrency billionaire who pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, and Joseph Schwartz, a nursing home operator convicted of tax crimes.

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Democrats have not made public direct proof of a quid pro quo. So far, the case rests on timing, political donations, and lobbying tied to people who later received clemency.

That limit matters. Democrats do not have subpoena power here, so the requests depend on voluntary cooperation. Rep. Min, one of the lead investigators on the House side, warned recipients that ignoring the letters could carry political and legal risk, telling CBS News, “If they don’t respond, they run the risk of highlighting themselves — of being the subjects of future congressional investigations and creating more of a target on their backs for potential further criminal prosecutions.”

The White House denies any wrongdoing

The White House has flatly rejected the idea that pardons were for sale. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money.” Defense attorneys for clemency recipients have also denied any exchange of favors for presidential mercy.

Still, critics say the process itself has shifted. Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney, told CBS News that the Trump administration had been running clemency out of the White House without input from the Office of the Pardon Attorney — the DOJ body that traditionally vets applications. “This was a departure from over 100 years of practice,” she said.

Image credits: joncutrer / Flickr

Throughout 2025, lobbying firms reported nearly $5.2 million in payments from clients seeking clemency from Trump — about eight times more than was disclosed in 2024 from people seeking clemency from President Biden, according to the Campaign Legal Center.

Welch put the issue in blunt terms in a public statement, saying, “President Trump’s abuse of the presidential pardon has let criminals walk free and deprived victims of hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution, with little to no explanation.” Another former federal prosecutor, quoted by the Campaign Legal Center, said defense lawyers increasingly believe clients may be better off chasing political attention than plea deals.

For now, the investigation is a test of how much Congress can uncover without subpoena power and without public evidence of an explicit deal. But the numbers alone have made it hard to ignore: nearly $2 billion in penalties erased, more than a dozen recipients under scrutiny, and fresh questions about whether presidential clemency has become a pay-to-play system that the wealthy can more easily access.

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