Democrats Launch Investigation Into Trump's Pardons and Commutations

Senate and House Democrats launched an investigation Thursday into whether pardons and commutations issued by President Trump were driven by pay-to-play dynamics. California congressmen Dave Min and Raul Ruiz along with Vermont senator Peter Welch sent letters to more than a dozen recipients of executive clemency.

The letters seek to determine how recipients may have received favorable treatment from President Trump or his advisers through intermediaries, financial contributions or other forms of influence.

The Democrats are examining the impact of those pardons and commutations on thousands of financial victims. President Trump's acts of clemency eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution owed to crime victims and fines. "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," said Peter Welch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The letters asked for any contracts showing how much money has been paid by clemency recipients to lawyers, lobbyists, social media influencers and others who advocated on their behalf to President Trump. They requested communications between the recipients or people acting on their behalf with federal officials, records showing any donations to President Trump or groups affiliated with him and other documents related to clemency efforts.

Responses are due by May 22.

"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," Dave Min told CBS News. " Democrats lack subpoena power because they are in the minority in both the House and the Senate.

The investigation will likely be a top oversight area for Democrats should they take back majorities in either chamber of Congress in the midterm elections this year.

That would give them authority to compel documents on clemency. Among the high-profile cases under scrutiny is President Trump's pardon last year of Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering. , as well as Teresa Goody Guillén, a lawyer who has represented Zach Witkoff, the son of Steve Witkoff.

1 billion valuation. The White House denied any impropriety in the Zhao pardon and others. Karoline Leavitt said that anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money.

She added that the administration has a robust pardon review process. Teresa Goody Guillén has said there was no quid pro quo. The Trump administration appears to be working around the Office of the Pardon Attorney rather than with it to vet and review applications for pardons, according to Liz Oyer.

"This was a departure from over 100 years of practice," Oyer said. She stated that clemency has been run out of the White House without input from the Office of the Pardon Attorney. Joseph Schwartz pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a $38 million payroll tax fraud scheme involving nursing homes he owned.

He had served just three months of his three-year prison sentence when President Trump pardoned him. President Trump commuted Lawrence Duran's sentence, wiping away $87 million in owed restitution. President Trump pardoned Trevor Milton in March 2025.

Trevor Milton was sentenced to four years in prison in 2023 after being convicted of lying to investors. Trevor Milton's pardon let him off the hook for roughly $680 million in restitution to shareholders. Trevor Milton and his wife donated at least $3 million to President Trump's 2024 campaign and other political groups in his orbit.

A White House official said earlier this year that Milton's donations played absolutely no role in his pardon. 6 billion Ponzi scheme. 5 million in restitution.

Senate Democrats raised concerns about the commutation of David Gentile last December. The commutation of David Gentile "represents a betrayal of more than 17,000 innocent Americans from all walks of the political spectrum that lost over $1 billion in life savings because of his crimes," Senate Democrats stated. Paul Walczak's mother raised millions of dollars for President Trump.

Timothy Leiweke was pardoned after hiring lawyer and Trump ally Trey Gowdy following a conviction for alleged contract bid rigging. Senior Justice Department officials felt completely kneecapped by the president after the pardon of Timothy Leiweke, a former Trump administration official told CBS News.

CBS News reported that the letters to the clemency recipients also probe the deprivation of restitution to victims.

The Democrats argued in the letters that President Trump has appeared to reward allies in a manner that departs from the Supreme Court's description of executive clemency as an act of grace exercised for the public welfare.