‘The system is rigged’: Gee not surprised by 60 Minutes exposé on Trump’s booming pardon broker industry

A new 60 Minutes investigation into the booming pardon broker industry around President Donald Trump laid bare what KIRO host Gee Scott already knew: money buys access, and access buys mercy.

“I believe the criminal justice system cares more about the rich and guilty than the innocent and broke,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “And until that day changes, that’s going to be a problem.”

The report, which aired Sunday, used hidden cameras to capture right-wing lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl pitching their pardon brokering services. Among their clients: rapper Boosie Badazz, who told correspondent Lesley Stahl he paid the pair $600,000 upfront after being convicted on a federal gun charge, believing they would deliver a pardon from Trump.

“This is what I was led to believe: if you come with this money, you will get a pardon,” Boosie told 60 Minutes.

He never got it. The rapper is now suing Burkman and Wohl.

Trump’s pardon pipeline

Gee acknowledged the 60 Minutes segment was stunning television but added none of it surprised him.

“Here’s why this story is not a big deal to me: this is par for the course,” he said. “The rich folks in our country, they don’t have to break the system. They have the money to afford to work the system. If sometimes the system isn’t going their way, they will have paid money to have the system fixed.”

CBS calculated that about 70% of Trump’s second-term clemency decisions bypassed the Justice Department’s formal pardon process. When Jan. 6 defendants were included, that figure rose to roughly 92%. The network also found Trump’s administration has approximately 16,000 pardon applications currently pending. Brokers are charging as much as $3 million to move to the front of the line.

Gee drew a sharp contrast between those who can afford a broker and those who cannot.

“Most families that feel they deserve clemency, they feel like, ‘Hey, I was wronged, I would like to be pardoned,’ you would have to fill out your paperwork and hope that someone reads it,” Gee said. “If you have access to $600,000, now you can hire people to help you with those relationships. You can have your paper put in front of someone.”

‘It’s not illegal, and that’s the point’

Gee was careful to note that brokering a pardon is not, on its face, against the law. The payments are technically for lobbying services, access and advocacy, not a guaranteed outcome.

He argued that legality wasn’t the issue. The issue was what it revealed about a system designed to reward wealth.

“When I talk about how the system is rigged a lot of times, the system and how it helps people at the top, this is an example of that,” Gee said.

Burkman and Wohl claimed at least one successful transaction. Nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz, who was convicted of massive tax fraud, paid the pair $960,000 before receiving clemency from the president.

The price of ‘not guilty’

Gee tied the pardon story to a broader frustration, pointing to last week’s acquittal of rapper Lil Durk. A federal jury in Los Angeles found Durk not guilty on Sept. 11 of all charges in a murder-for-hire case.

According to Reuters, Durk was accused of orchestrating the revenge killing of a man shot dead in a 2022 daytime ambush in Los Angeles. He remains in custody facing a separate racketeering trial next month.

Gee said the acquittal reminded him of a familiar pattern.

“I know there’s people that would say, ‘Oh, but he was acquitted.’ O.J. Simpson was acquitted!” Gee exclaimed. “We can’t pick and choose which of those stories. I just think there’s a real problem when money seems to be the reason why a lot of folks end up getting off.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.