Is There A Bribe Behind The Clemency Of The President Of The United States?

JAKARTA - The United States (US) Department of Justice is investigating potential crimes related to channeling money to the White House in exchange for granting presidential clemency. The news comes from court records that opened on Tuesday December 1 in federal court.

The case is the latest legal change at the end of US President Donald Trump's administration after several of his top advisers have been convicted on federal criminal charges. The criminal disclosure outlined in the 20-page document was partly published by the Washington DC District Court on Tuesday afternoon December 1.

The records show Chief Justice Beryl Howell's review of a request from the prosecutor for access to documents obtained in the search as part of a bribery investigation for clemency pardon. The disclosures did not explain the timeline of the alleged scheme or the names of the people involved.

However, it was reported that there was communication between people including at least one lawyer. No one appears to have been publicly charged with any related crimes to date.

Meanwhile, the White House was reluctant to comment on this polemic. Earlier President Trump's colleagues appealed to the court in hopes of getting pardon before Trump leaves office.

A Justice Department official said no government officials were the target of the investigation. The Justice Department must ask Howell's permission to view certain emails between the attorney and the unidentified persons.

Howell granted the request in August, saying attorney-client privilege did not apply in that regard. Prosecutors said they planned to "confront" the three unnamed people and complete their investigation.

According to Howell's order, government investigators said they had seized "more than fifty digital media devices, including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives, as well as computers and external hard drives."

The President enjoys broad freedoms under the US Constitution to pardon persons convicted of federal crimes. President Donald Trump last week pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.