The Justice Department is investigating allegations of a scheme to transfer money to the White House or its associated Political Action Committee in exchange for a presidential pardon.
The investigation was revealed in a partially revised court file from Washington, DC District Court, and announced on Tuesday. The documents show that Chief Justice Beryl Hoyle reviewed a request in August from prosecutors to review documents obtained in research related to a bribery investigation.
The documents do not reveal the timeline or names of anyone involved in any alleged plot to influence the White House, and it does not appear that anyone has been publicly charged with the crime related to the investigation yet.
But what they show is that an office raid seized communications between at least two people, one of them a lawyer, before the end of this summer, According to CNN. The seized evidence includes more than 50 digital devices including iPhones, tablets, laptops and computer drives.
Prosecutors have been demanding access to attorney’s communications, which are usually legally protected, because they believe they contain evidence, in the form of emails, showing a “secret pressure scheme” and a conspiracy to exchange “a significant political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or deferred sentence.” For a convicted defendant, his name has also been deleted.
The request also mentions “unregistered lobbyists of senior White House officials” who attempted to arrange an amnesty by sending a bribe through an intermediary.
The plaintiffs have not yet provided any evidence of payment, but rather that an individual was seeking clemency on the basis of previous and anticipated political donations.
The interrogators also said that they intended to “confront” three people with the seized materials and finish their investigation.
The White House did not comment on the story, and the Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The boss has it 29 people were pardoned Since taking office, including recently Michael Flynn, His former national security adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his conversations with a Russian official.
Rudy Giuliani, the president’s attorney, discussed obtaining a “preventive” pardon from the White House, New York times I mentioned, which Giuliani denies.
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