Inside the upscale lounge of the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia, two well-known conservative political operatives gathered to pitch what has quickly become one of Washington’s most lucrative illicit commodities: executive clemency. Lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl outlined their strategy to a prospective client, explaining that securing relief from the Oval Office now requires a relentless, coordinated campaign rather than adherence to bureaucratic channels.
The target of their pitch was Ammon Covino, a former commercial aquarium operator who served nearly two years in federal custody after being convicted of illegally transporting a stingray and a shark across state lines. Accompanied by his wife, Crystal, Covino listened as the operatives laid out an aggressive blueprint designed to sway presidential decision-making through sheer persistence and insider leverage.
According to Burkman, securing relief under the current administration relies heavily on applying sustained pressure from multiple angles to compel executive action. The lobbyists characterized the modern clemency landscape as favoring energy, direct influence, and personal relationships over traditional legal protocols. For a fee of $300,000, they asserted they could deliver an official presidential pardon in a matter of months.
Unbeknownst to the operatives, the prospective transaction was an undercover sting operation. Covino was cooperating with CBS News’ *60 Minutes*, utilizing hidden recording equipment to document the opaque mechanics of the private pardon-brokering trade. The covert operation offered a rare, unvarnished look at how political access is packaged and sold to individuals desperate to clear their criminal records.
Covino had previously attempted to navigate standard administrative avenues, submitting a conventional pardon petition through the mail during the Biden administration. However, his petition was formally dismissed in July as part of a sweeping initiative by the Trump administration to eliminate the substantial backlog of pending clemency applications.
The current administration has reshaped the pardon process over the past eighteen months, departing sharply from conventional administrative norms. Immediately upon taking office, the president granted sweeping clemency to more than 1,500 individuals charged or convicted in connection with the January 6 Capitol attack through commutations, dismissals, and pardons. Since then, dozens of additional clemency grants have benefited well-resourced, politically connected white-collar offenders.
While presidential pardons have historically generated intense public debate, legal historians note that executive clemency was traditionally reserved for repentant convicts who demonstrated substantial rehabilitation. Past administrations frequently tested those boundaries, including Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter’s blanket relief for Vietnam-era draft resisters, and Bill Clinton’s controversial final-day pardon of Marc Rich, whose spouse had contributed substantially to Clinton’s presidential library foundation.
More recently, President Joe Biden drew significant public scrutiny in December 2024 by issuing late-term pardons to political allies, donors, and family members. Among those granted executive mercy was his son, Hunter Biden, who had faced tax evasion and federal firearms convictions, alongside a preemptive pardon issued to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Despite these historical controversies, federal prosecutors, defense practitioners, and legal analysts widely agree that the current environment represents an unprecedented commercialization of executive mercy. The clemency landscape has evolved into an unregulated arena dominated by well-connected political influencers and operatives capable of commanding extraordinary financial retainers.
In prior administrations, clemency petitions were systematically evaluated by more than two dozen attorneys within the Department of Justice. These career officials conducted rigorous reviews of an applicant’s remorse, post-conviction conduct, and rehabilitation before advancing formal recommendations to the White House. Today, sources with direct insight into the administration confirm that this traditional institutional pathway has been largely marginalized.
Data analyses of recent Justice Department records illustrate the extent of this institutional detour. Approximately 70 percent of second-term clemency actions bypassed standard Department of Justice review entirely. When factoring in the mass clemency actions issued for January 6 defendants, the proportion of bypassed cases surges to 92 percent.
In place of established legal procedures, access has emerged as the primary currency in obtaining presidential relief. Intermediaries seek to exert influence by leveraging connections within the executive branch, orchestrating public campaigns through aligned commentators, and cultivating direct proximity to the president. Sources familiar with these negotiations indicate that retainers for such intermediary services can climb as high as $3 million.
Legal scholars argue that the privatization of executive mercy undermines the constitutional foundation of the pardon power. Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas who directs a pro bono clemency legal clinic in Minnesota, pointed out that a constitutional relief mechanism designed to be universally accessible and free of cost has been transformed into a commercial market. He observed that applicants increasingly believe their only viable path to relief requires paying enormous sums to personal acquaintances of White House officials or individuals with access to private presidential retreats.
As the market for executive access continues to expand, the reliance on high-priced intermediaries highlights a profound transformation in how presidential mercy is sought and granted, replacing structured institutional vetting with high-stakes political dealmaking.
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