George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸
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https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-presidential-pardon-process-dda97c15?st=CKWj7d&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink


5:39 AM · Dec 24, 2025

Policy
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon

Lobbyists close to Trump say their going rate to advocate for a pardon is $1 million

By Rebecca Ballhaus, Josh Dawsey and C. Ryan Barber
Dec. 23, 2025 9:00 pm ET

President Trump had just awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom for Charlie Kirk in October when his son ushered friends toward the Oval Office. ... As a string ensemble played in the background, Donald Trump Jr. walked up with lobbyist Ches McDowell to chat with the president. Trump Jr. at one point pulled McDowell forward to shake the president’s hand, according to a livestream broadcast. After they went inside, McDowell took the president aside to discuss a pressing issue, according to people familiar with the matter: One of his clients was seeking a pardon.

The client was Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance. That afternoon, the president agreed to sign Zhao’s pardon, the people said.

Zhao was one of the beneficiaries of a new, informal path to presidential pardons that has become a feature of Trump’s second term, which allows some clemency applicants with deep pockets or politically connected lobbyists to circumvent the traditional pardon process.

McDowell told The Wall Street Journal that Trump Jr. didn’t help him pursue the pardon and had left the room when he brought up Zhao. Trump Jr. had brought him because they were leaving later that afternoon for a hunting trip in Utah, McDowell said. A spokesman for Trump Jr. declined to comment.

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https://www.wsj.com/news/author/rebecca-ballhaus
https://www.wsj.com/news/author/josh-dawsey
https://www.wsj.com/news/author/cryan-barber