The US Justice Department is investigating a potential bribery case involving funnelling money to the White House or a related political committee in exchange for a pardon from President Donald Trump.
US District Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday (NZ time) released a heavily redacted order that described what she called a "bribery-for-pardon" investigation.
About half of the 18-page document was blacked out, with the publicly available version providing few details of the alleged scheme, and naming none of the people potentially involved.
These court documents show the Justice Department spent months investigating a "bribery-for-pardon scheme" where people "acted as lobbyists to senior White House officials, without complying with the registration requirement" to secure "a pardon or reprieve of sentence".
According to the documents, an individual whose name was redacted "would offer a substantial political contribution" in exchange for this.
The Justice Department had to ask Howell's permission to view certain electronic communications between a lawyer and clients, who were not identified. Howell granted the request in August, saying attorney-client privilege did not apply in that instance.
Prosecutors had said they planned to "confront" three unnamed individuals with the communications and finish their investigation.
Presidents enjoy wide latitude under the US Constitution in pardoning people convicted of federal crimes. President Donald Trump last week pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
That was the first of what is expected to be a string of pardons in Trump's final weeks in the White House.
Reuters / Newshub.
