NPR aired a segment on July 19, 2026, about a growing business: lobbyists who charge large fees to help people get presidential pardons. The segment cited a price of $600,000 for this kind of work. Host Ayesha Rascoe interviewed Jasmine Wright, a White House reporter for the news outlet NOTUS, who has been writing about this topic for over a year. NPR

A presidential pardon is a way for the president to forgive someone for a federal crime. The Constitution gives the president this power, and courts cannot overrule it. The Justice Department has an official process for reviewing pardon requests, called the Office of the Pardon Attorney. But people can also hire private lobbyists to push for a pardon on their behalf, and that is what the reporting examined.

CBS News published an investigation on June 24, 2026, revealing that a firm called Mo Strategies, which has ties to President Trump, is lobbying for presidential pardons. The firm's president, Marty Obst, said Mo Strategies earned $500,000 from its first pardon lobbying client. CBS News

NOTUS published an article by Wright on January 23, 2026, titled "Lobbyists Make Millions in Pursuit of Trump Pardons." The article reported that President Trump pardoned a person named Schwartz in November. That person had paid lobbyists nearly $1.1 million in 2025 to push for the pardon. NOTUS

Wright's reporting has built up over time. On June 16, 2025, NOTUS published her article "The Ultimate Currency in Trump's Pardon Economy." NOTUS On October 31, 2025, NOTUS published a second article by Wright, "Super Rich? In Prison? Lobbyists Want to Help Score You a Presidential Pardon," which mentioned Roger Stone and Boosie Badazz. NOTUS On July 13, 2026, NOTUS published a third article by Wright, "How Boosie Badazz's Pardon Push Turned Into a MAGA Mess," with more details on the pardon advocacy landscape. NOTUS

The Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney published an official pardon document for Todd Chrisley dated May 28, 2025. The document says the Attorney General signs as the president's representative to make the pardon official. DOJ Office of the Pardon Attorney

NOTUS, where Wright works as White House correspondent, runs a newsroom with sections covering Congress, the White House, national news, the D.C. area, campaigns, policy, courts, states, and opinions. The outlet sends out free daily newsletters, makes a podcast called "On NOTUS" with interviews of lawmakers, and has accounts on X, Bluesky, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. NOTUS also runs a "Washington Bureau Initiative" and offers syndication. NOTUS

The broader context here is that several factors have made pardon lobbying a story worth following in the second Trump administration. The president's pardon power is absolute and cannot be reviewed by courts. The official process through the Justice Department has always existed, but so have informal channels. What the reporting from NPR, NOTUS, and CBS News shows is how big the informal market has become. The $600,000 figure from NPR and the $500,000 earned by Mo Strategies are fees paid to private lobbyists, not to the government. The Schwartz case, with its $1.1 million in lobbying payments, shows the high end of what people are paying.

The official pardon process works like this, based on the Todd Chrisley document: the Attorney General signs as the president's representative, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney publishes the grant. That process is separate from the lobbying that Wright and CBS News reported on, where private firms and individuals are paid to push for pardons through personal access and persuasion.

For anyone watching clemency policy, the story raises several questions. The gap between the $500,000 fee Obst disclosed and the $1.1 million in the Schwartz case suggests a wide range of prices. The involvement of a Trump-connected firm like Mo Strategies raises the question of whether being close to the administration makes a lobbyist more expensive. And Wright's reporting on the Boosie Badazz case, which she described as a "MAGA mess," shows that pardon lobbying can get caught up in political infighting within the president's own coalition.

The NPR segment aired at 8:13 AM ET on July 19, 2026. The full segment is available on NPR's website.