Hidden-camera footage captured two conservative lobbyists offering a convicted felon a $300,000 campaign intended to help him obtain a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump.
Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl presented the proposal to aquarium operator Ammon Covino and his wife, Crystal, during an August meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Tysons Corner, Virginia.
The encounter was arranged as part of a CBS News “60 Minutes” investigation into lobbyists who charge clemency applicants large fees while promoting their connections to Trump allies.
Covino served nearly two years in federal prison after illegally transporting a shark and a stingray across state lines. He had already submitted a traditional pardon application to the Justice Department, but Trump rejected the request in July.
Burkman and Wohl told Covino that their strategy would involve recruiting conservative influencers and people with political connections to promote his case publicly.
“With this particular White House, you have to put pressure on the president from all directions in a consistent way to force his hand,” Burkman said in the recording.
The lobbyists reportedly predicted they could secure Covino a pardon by October. They did not know that he was working with CBS News and carrying hidden cameras.
Covino never paid the firm, and Trump did not pardon him.
Burkman and Wohl said their work was legitimate lobbying rather than a guarantee that a client would receive clemency. They denied participating in a pay-to-play system.
“We’re proud of the work we do,” Burkman told CBS News. “If people hire advocates, of course they have an advantage. But that’s a very different question than saying something is pay-to-play.”
The White House also rejected suggestions that the lobbyists possessed special access to Trump or could influence the president’s decisions.
“Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money, and the president doesn’t even know who these so-called ‘lobbyists’ are,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told the Daily Mail.
Bis said the administration maintains a clemency-review process involving White House counsel, the Justice Department, pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson and Trump, who makes the final decision.
White House Counsel Will Scharf said Trump performs his constitutional responsibilities in an “ethically sound manner” and rejected claims suggesting otherwise.
CBS News reported that brokers seeking pardons have charged clients as much as $3 million. Federal law requires lobbyists to report their clemency clients and associated fees to Congress.
The network’s analysis of Justice Department records found that approximately 70 percent of Trump’s second-term clemency actions did not pass through the department’s standard review process.
That figure increased to 92 percent when the more than 1,500 pardons, commutations and dismissed prosecutions involving Jan. 6 defendants were included.
Burkman and Wohl told Covino that they had delivered six successful outcomes for previous clemency clients. Their firm received $960,000 from former nursing-home operator Joseph Schwartz, federal lobbying disclosures showed.
Schwartz pleaded guilty to failing to pay more than $38 million in employment taxes withheld from workers and failing to file a required retirement-plan report. Trump pardoned him in November 2025, three months into his prison sentence.
The pair said the fee reflected the work required on Schwartz’s case and maintained that they believed he had been wrongfully prosecuted and was in declining health.
Their dealings with rapper Boosie Badazz, whose legal name is Torence Hatch, also received scrutiny in the CBS report.
Hatch said he paid the lobbyists $600,000 after being led to believe their campaign could obtain a pardon for his federal gun conviction. Trump did not grant the pardon.
Hatch later initiated arbitration seeking the return of $300,000, claiming an agreement required the firm to refund half of the payment if clemency was not obtained.
Burkman disputed that account, arguing that the final agreement was never signed and that the firm does not owe Hatch money.
Burkman and Wohl also denied sending disputed text messages describing efforts to enlist House Speaker Mike Johnson, conservative activist Laura Loomer and Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk in Hatch’s case.
Representatives for Johnson and Turning Point USA said they did not endorse the requested pardon. Loomer said she does not participate in pardon efforts and believed her name had been used without permission.
Covino said he participated in the undercover operation because he wanted to expose what he considered an unfair system.
“I don’t like the fact that you have to pay such a huge amount of money because of who you know,” Covino said. “But if that’s how the game’s played, then that’s how the game’s played.”
