DOJ investigation into Trump bribery

An alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House is under investigation by the justice department, according to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday.

The heavily redacted document does not name Donald Trump or other individuals and leaves many unanswered questions, but comes amid media reports that the US president is considering sweeping pardons before he leaves office next month.

  Guardian

How do you know if it's heavily redacted?

It shows that the justice department investigation alleges that an individual offered “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence”.

Two individuals acted improperly as lobbyists to secure the pardon in the “bribery-for-pardon schemes”, as the document puts it. All three names are blacked out.

So...perhaps it was a go-between on behalf of Trump to whom the two scoundrels took their case?

On Tuesday night, a justice department official told Reuters that no US government official is the “subject or target” of investigation into whether money was funnelled to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon.

Yet.

Trump issued a brief response on Tuesday night, resorting to one of his favourite phrases to criticise the media even though the details were contained in official court papers. “Pardon investigation is Fake News!” he tweeted.

Ordinarily, this would certainly get Bill Barr fired, and he's in enough trouble already. But my guess would have been that it's a way for Barr to keep his job if he has sycophants on the case who will "completely exonerate" Trump. But if Trump's calling it fake news, it sounds like firing material. I don't know.

The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) tweeted in response: “It’s hard to overstate how big a deal the phrase ‘bribery-for-pardon schemes’ is.”

The document was unsealed by the district court for the District of Columbia, in Washington. Some of its 20 pages are entirely redacted, implying that revealing the details now might jeopardise an ongoing investigation.

[...]

More than 50 digital devices including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives and computer drives were seized after investigators raided unidentified offices. It was not clear why [chief judge Beryl] Howell decided to release the filing now.

But Trump will be mean-tweeting her and whining about it. And by whining, I mean throwing a tantrum.

Trump last week pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, discussed as recently as last week the possibility of a “pre-emptive pardon”. Giuliani tweeted a denial.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Hmmmmm

UPDATE:  Josh Barro and Ken White talk about this on their 12/2 podcast.  They say this person trying to buy a bribe has already surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons and is an attorney him/herself.  So, not the Tiger King.  That's a separate pardon bid.

UPDATE: Names named.