The Justice Department has spent months investigating a “bribery-for-pardon scheme,” even as President Donald Trump was running for reelection, according to court documents disclosed Tuesday.
In a 20-page opinion, dated Aug. 28 but posted Tuesday evening, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that attorney-client privilege didn’t protect certain communications if they were alleged to be part of a “bribery-for-pardon scheme.” The communications involved were copied to a third party, who was not an attorney, the opinion stated.
“In sum, the attorney-client privilege does not protect communications disclosed to third parties and, here [redacted] was such a third party to each of the emails submitted by the government,” the Aug. 28 opinion states.
The court documents reveal that dozens of devices were seized after an office was searched in response to a search warrant. The federal agents were investigating a “secret lobbying scheme” in which certain people “acted as lobbyists to senior White House officials, without complying with the registration requirement” to secure “a pardon or reprieve of sentence.”