2026年9月14日 / 美国东部时间晚上8:45 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者：丹尼尔·克莱德曼
丹尼尔·克莱德曼是驻纽约的调查记者，曾任雅虎新闻总编辑、《新闻周刊》副主编，拥有超过二十年报道政治、外交、国家安全与法律的经验。
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艾伦·贺（注：原文为Alan He，应为署名或编辑标注）
民主党资深议员周一誓言，将调查围绕特朗普总统赦免权兴起的新型灰色市场。此前CBS新闻曝光了一段游说者视频，视频中游说者声称可以“向总统施压”，以此向重刑罪犯索要高额费用。
“他们实质上已经将总统的赦免权变成了一门逐利产业，”马里兰州民主党众议员、众议院司法委员会 ranking 成员杰米·拉斯金说道。他补充称，民主党正“彻查所有通过赦免流水线牟利的人员”。
这段视频是周日《60分钟》调查报道的一部分，该报道详细记录了围绕特朗普白宫形成的利润丰厚的“赦免掮客”副业的崛起。报道揭露了游说者和掮客如何跳过司法部传统的赦免程序，向重刑罪犯收取高达数百万美元的费用，利用内部人脉和社交媒体网红推动总统特赦。
CBS新闻使用隐蔽摄像头揭露了赦免掮客行业的运作方式。因非法贩卖野生动物获刑的重刑罪犯阿蒙·科维诺联系了多名赦免掮客，其中包括右翼煽动者、游说者杰克·伯克曼和雅各布·沃尔。在弗吉尼亚州一家酒店的隐蔽拍摄画面中，伯克曼和沃尔承诺将对总统发起“钳形攻势”，费用为30万美元。他们表示，将通过白宫内部人士和“让美国伟大”（MAGA）网红持续施压，而非走传统程序。
伯克曼和沃尔否认自己属于权钱交易市场，表示他们是合法运作的游说者。白宫发言人表示，本届政府设有完善的审查流程，涉及白宫法律顾问办公室、司法部和赦免事务专员，最终决定权在特朗普手中，任何花钱游说赦免的人都是在浪费钱。
9月4日离职的前司法部赦免律师埃德·马丁在接受《60分钟》采访时否认存在交易型赦免经济。
“当人们说‘有掮客，有利益交换’时，我从未见过这种情况，也没听说过，”马丁说道。
CBS新闻的调查显示，传统上考量悔罪和改过自新的司法部赦免程序已基本被边缘化。数据分析显示，特朗普第二任任期内约70%的赦免行动完全绕过了司法部传统流程。犹他州前联邦地区检察官布雷特·托尔曼等知名掮客公开表示，他们直接向白宫提交请愿书，并告知客户等待司法部审批几乎没有获批可能。
“这有点像地下市场，因为不是所有人都知道如何进入这个圈子，”拉斯金说道。他补充称，付给赦免掮客的钱“可能会流向多个不同方向，包括商业和政治领域”，并且“我们从未见过赦免程序遭到如此严重的腐败侵蚀”。
众议院司法委员会负责监督司法部及其赦免律师办公室，若民主党在2026年中期选举中拿下众议院多数席位，赦免问题将成为优先议题。目前民主党在参众两院都处于少数党地位，无法强制要求提交文件或传唤证人作证。
上个月，众议院小组委员会的民主党议员发布了一份名为《赦免公司》的报告，称这一“总统伦理和行为的惊人倒退破坏了联邦司法体系”。
至少有一名知名共和党人也批评了特朗普政府时期的赦免运作方式。周一，前佐治亚州众议员玛乔丽·泰勒·格林在X平台上发布内容，表达了对当前赦免体系的不满，并附上了《60分钟》报道的链接。
“这精准展现了MAGA圈子的运作方式，以及如何触及特朗普身边的核心圈层，”格林写道。她曾是特朗普的坚定支持者，后因政府处理爱泼斯坦文件等事件与其决裂。“一切都是权钱交易，看你给谁花钱、认识谁，”格林在帖子中继续说道。
参议院少数党领袖、纽约州民主党参议员查克·舒默在X平台上表示，特朗普“正在通过一项相当于贿赂的计划出售赦免权”，并且“当民主党在11月重新掌控国会时，所有这一切都将被调查，必要时还将提起诉讼”。
尽管这种基于人脉的赦免新玩法与总统赦免权的初衷大相径庭，但明尼苏达州圣托马斯大学法学教授、赦免专家马克·奥斯勒表示，要证明可能构成刑事犯罪的利益交换“对检察官来说要困难得多”。
另一位民主党高层、加利福尼亚州众议员罗伯特·加西亚表示，《60分钟》调查中描述的行为“非常令人不安”。他是众议院监督委员会的 ranking 成员。
其他民主党人的回应则更为直接。“废除赦免权吧，”密歇根州民主党参议员埃莉萨·斯洛特金在X平台上发帖称，“这现在就是赤裸裸的贿赂。”
“后排的朋友们听清楚了：特朗普政府是美国历史上最腐败的政府，”加利福尼亚州民主党州长、潜在的2028年总统候选人加文·纽瑟姆说道。
拉斯金表示，他不指望这些掮客或他们的客户自愿配合调查。“我认为这些人不会主动出面作证，”他说道。
白宫法律顾问威尔·沙夫在一份声明中表示：“特朗普总统以合乎道德的方式履行宪法职责，反之暗示这种情况要么是信息不足，要么是恶意诽谤。”
Top Democrats pledge investigation into Trump pardon brokers if party regains control of Congress
September 14, 2026 / 8:45 PM EDT / CBS News
By Daniel Klaidman
Daniel Klaidman, an investigative reporter based in New York, is the former editor-in-chief of Yahoo News and former managing editor of Newsweek. He has over two decades of experience covering politics, foreign affairs, national security and law.
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Alan He
Senior Democratic lawmakers vowed Monday to investigate the new market that has sprung up around President Trump’s pardons, citing CBS News video of lobbyists offering to “put pressure on the president” in exchange for a hefty fee from a convicted felon.
“They’ve basically converted the president’s pardon power into a for-profit industry,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. He added that Democrats are “looking at everybody along the assembly line of clemency for cash.”
The video appeared as part of a 60 Minutes investigative report Sunday that chronicled the rise of a lucrative “pardon broker” cottage industry operating around Mr. Trump’s White House. The report highlighted how lobbyists and brokers are charging felons up to millions of dollars to sidestep the traditional Justice Department clemency process, using insider access and social media influencers to push presidential pardons.
CBS News used hidden cameras to expose how the pardon-broker industry operates. Ammon Covino, a convicted felon sentenced for illegally trafficking wildlife, contacted a number of pardon brokers, including the right-wing provocateurs and lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl. Captured on video at a Virginia hotel, Burkman and Wohl promised to put a “pincer movement” on the president, for a $300,000 fee. They said they would apply continuous pressure through White House insiders and MAGA influencers rather than go through the traditional process.
Burkman and Wohl rejected the suggestion that they are part of a pay-to-play marketplace, saying they are lobbyists operating within the law. A White House spokesperson said the administration has a robust review process involving the White House counsel’s office, the Justice Department and the pardon czar, with Mr. Trump as the final decider, and said anyone paying to lobby for a pardon is wasting money.
Ed Martin, who served as the Justice Department’s pardon attorney until leaving the administration on Sept. 4, denied the existence of a transactional pardon economy in an interview with 60 Minutes.
“When people say ‘there’s brokers, there’s quid pro quo,’ I’ve never seen it. I haven’t seen it. I haven’t heard it,” Martin said.
The CBS News investigation laid out how the traditional Justice Department clemency process, which weighs remorse and rehabilitation, has been largely sidelined. A data analysis showed that roughly 70% of Mr. Trump’s second-term clemency actions bypassed the traditional DOJ process entirely. Instead, prominent brokers like former U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah Brett Tolman said openly they submit petitions directly to the White House, advising clients that waiting on the Justice Department offers little chance of approval.
“It’s kind of an underground market because not everybody knows how to get to it,” Raskin said. He added that money given to pardon brokers “could be funneled in a lot of different directions, in business directions, in political directions,” and that “we have never seen a saturated corruption of the pardon process like this before.”
The House Judiciary Committee has oversight of the Justice Department and its pardon attorney’s office, and clemency is expected to be a priority should Democrats take a majority in the lower chamber in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats’ minority status in both chambers renders them unable to compel documents or testimony.
Last month, Democrats on the House panel released a report titled “Pardon Inc.,” which said this “shocking new descent in presidential ethics and conduct undermines the federal justice system.”
At least one prominent Republican also criticized the way clemency operates under Mr. Trump. On Monday, former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X her disapproval of the current system, with a link to the 60 Minutes report.
“This accurately gives a glimpse into how MAGA world works and how to peel the closest layers to Trump,” wrote Greene, who had been a stalwart supporter of Mr. Trump before falling out with him over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files and other matters. “It’s all pay to play and who you are paying and who you know,” Greene continued in her post.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on X that Mr. Trump “is selling pardons in a scheme that amounts to bribery,” and that “all of this will be investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted when Democrats retake Congress in November.”
Even though the new playbook based on access marks a sharp departure from the original intent of presidential mercy, clemency expert Mark Osler, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, said proving a quid pro quo that could amount to criminal conduct is far “more difficult for prosecutors.”
Another top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, said the conduct described in the 60 Minutes investigation was “very disturbing.” He is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
Other Democrats were more blunt in response to the story. “Ban the pardon,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, posted on X. “It’s just straight-up bribery at this point.”
“A little louder for the people in the back: The Trump Administration is the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States,” said California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate.
Raskin said he does not expect the brokers or their clients to cooperate willingly with his investigation. “I don’t think any of these people will come and appear voluntarily,” he said.
In a statement, White House Counsel Will Scharf said, “President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.”