And it's kind of wild that Trump doesn't know anything about it, that it's happening behind his back.
Matthew Chapman
December 3, 2025
RAW STORY
Donald Trump (Reuters)
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) tore into President Donald Trump's recent string of pardons for powerful and well-connected criminals and criminal defendants — and suggested there is something much more sinister going on below the surface.
Specifically, he argued to MS NOW's Chris Hayes on Wednesday, there is a whole lobbying network at play that has set up a cash-for-pardons pipeline to the White House.
"I mean, he has made a series of what would seem to be audaciously politically toxic pardons," said Hayes. "I mean, a man convicted and sentenced for 40 years for trafficking cocaine into the U.S., someone convicted of an enormous fraud enterprise and defrauding investors. I think today he's now pardoning someone who is indicted by his own Justice Department this July. And when he's asked about it, he says, I don't know who they are. What are we supposed to make of that?"
"Yeah, I mean, my sense is that somebody is getting rich ultimately, that there is a cabal of administration officials and MAGA-friendly lobbyists that are in league together," said Murphy. "They all huddle together at these elite restaurants and clubs in Washington, D.C. and they likely hatch deals in which if somebody pays a MAGA-affiliated lobbyist a couple hundred thousand dollars, then maybe you'll be able to get a pardon and somehow, you know, that deal will be consummated down the line."
"The Binance owner, the owner of one of these big crypto companies, was pardoned," said Murphy. "And this is a bad, bad guy. He pled guilty. I mean, it wasn't like he was contesting the charges. He had essentially set up a company that was being used to launder money for terrorists and for child sex predators, and he got a pardon pretty explicitly because his company had chosen to give Trump's crypto coin advantage in the marketplace."
"And remember, that's not just Trump making money," he added. "That's anybody that gets inside information from Trump on when he's going to boost the cryptocurrency. If they get just two minutes notice of that, they can make millions of dollars and so on. The cryptocurrency stuff, there's clearly a whole group of people around him that are making millions of dollars, and they're handing out favors to folks in the form of pardons in order to make sure that they get their pockets lined."
"I mean, that's like just bread and butter corruption," said Murphy. "And it's kind of wild that Trump doesn't know anything about it, that it's happening behind his back."
'Totally disgusted': Victim aghast after Trump frees fraudster
Robert Davis
December 3, 2025
RAW STORY
CNN screenshot
A victim of a fraudster that President Donald Trump recently let out of jail spoke out on Wednesday, railing that the president's move "makes no sense."
Carolann Tutera, who was defrauded by David Gentile, the former CEO of GPB Holdings, discussed the impact of Gentile's fraud on her family during Wednesday's broadcast of "The Lead" with Jake Tapper. Gentile was convicted in May of leading a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He served just 12 days before Trump commuted his sentence.
"I'm totally disgusted because it wasn't only myself, it was my elder mother in her 90s and my sister as well. We all got defrauded," Tutera told Tapper.
Tutera said she lost about $500,000 in Gentile's scams and has since been able to recoup about $40,000. She told Tapper that she realized she was being scammed after her late husband died, and she asked for her money back.
"You're not really functioning for quite some time after you lose your spouse of many, many years," Tutera said. "And when I asked for money back, they said they're just waiting. What are they waiting for? Call me in about six months. Time went on, and there was no money. None."
Gentile is not the only white collar criminal Trump has granted clemency for during his second administration. He pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was convicted of money laundering and forced to pay a more than $4 billion fine. Trump has also pardoned Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, who was also convicted of money laundering.
December 3, 2025
RAW STORY
CNN screenshot
A victim of a fraudster that President Donald Trump recently let out of jail spoke out on Wednesday, railing that the president's move "makes no sense."
Carolann Tutera, who was defrauded by David Gentile, the former CEO of GPB Holdings, discussed the impact of Gentile's fraud on her family during Wednesday's broadcast of "The Lead" with Jake Tapper. Gentile was convicted in May of leading a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. He served just 12 days before Trump commuted his sentence.
"I'm totally disgusted because it wasn't only myself, it was my elder mother in her 90s and my sister as well. We all got defrauded," Tutera told Tapper.
Tutera said she lost about $500,000 in Gentile's scams and has since been able to recoup about $40,000. She told Tapper that she realized she was being scammed after her late husband died, and she asked for her money back.
"You're not really functioning for quite some time after you lose your spouse of many, many years," Tutera said. "And when I asked for money back, they said they're just waiting. What are they waiting for? Call me in about six months. Time went on, and there was no money. None."
Gentile is not the only white collar criminal Trump has granted clemency for during his second administration. He pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was convicted of money laundering and forced to pay a more than $4 billion fine. Trump has also pardoned Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, who was also convicted of money laundering.
Trump pardons media exec indicted by his own DOJ
Matthew Chapman
December 3, 2025
Matthew Chapman
December 3, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a breakfast with Republican Senators at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to Tim Leiweke, a media executive who co-founded the Oak View Group, according to CNN on Wednesday.
The move is notable as, unlike many other controversial Trump clemencies for rich and well-connected people, this pardon is for a charge brought by his own Justice Department earlier this year.
"A federal grand jury indicted Leiweke, then the CEO of the live entertainment group, in July for 'orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas,' according to a press release from the Justice Department announcing the charge," noted the report. Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater proclaimed at that time, “As outlined in the indictment, the Defendant rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding.”
Ironically, according to the report, Leiweke has a history of criticizing Trump on social media, posting that he was the “single greatest Con man” and lauding former Vice President Mike Pence for standing up to Trump's scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Leiweke was represented in his quest for a pardon by former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a former ally of the president.
This comes just hours after Trump sent House Republicans into chaos by pardoning conservative Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, who was charged alongside his wife with a $600,000 bribery scheme on behalf of an oil and gas company tied to foreign entities. GOP lawmakers had hoped to leverage his criminal charges to unseat him in his South Texas district.
U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a breakfast with Republican Senators at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. November 5, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to Tim Leiweke, a media executive who co-founded the Oak View Group, according to CNN on Wednesday.
The move is notable as, unlike many other controversial Trump clemencies for rich and well-connected people, this pardon is for a charge brought by his own Justice Department earlier this year.
"A federal grand jury indicted Leiweke, then the CEO of the live entertainment group, in July for 'orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas,' according to a press release from the Justice Department announcing the charge," noted the report. Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater proclaimed at that time, “As outlined in the indictment, the Defendant rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding.”
Ironically, according to the report, Leiweke has a history of criticizing Trump on social media, posting that he was the “single greatest Con man” and lauding former Vice President Mike Pence for standing up to Trump's scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Leiweke was represented in his quest for a pardon by former Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), a former ally of the president.
This comes just hours after Trump sent House Republicans into chaos by pardoning conservative Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, who was charged alongside his wife with a $600,000 bribery scheme on behalf of an oil and gas company tied to foreign entities. GOP lawmakers had hoped to leverage his criminal charges to unseat him in his South Texas district.
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