The Atlantic
A Million-Dollar Pardon Offer at the Trump Hotel
Corey Lewandowski allegedly wanted a hefty fee in exchange for helping a government whistleblower win a pardon from the former president.
Updated on February 10, 2021 at 6:16 p.m. ET
Soon after the November election, a business colleague of Donald Trump’s close ally Corey Lewandowski offered a whistleblower and convicted ex-banker an expensive deal: In exchange for a $300,000 fee up front plus another $1 million if successful the two men would push the then-president for a pardon, according to the ex-banker and an associate who heard the pitch.
Brad Birkenfeld, whose exposure of tax-evasion schemes yielded billions of dollars for U.S. coffers, told me he received this offer in person from Lewandowski’s colleague Jason Osborne. In a later phone call with a second Birkenfeld associate, Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, upped the initial fee to $500,000 and boasted that he was meeting with Trump the nex
The Atlantic
January 2, 2021
John Prieto / The Denver Post / Getty / The Atlantic
As the country plunged into a deep and unusual economic recession last year, it also plunged into a deep and unusual social recession: atomizing families and friends, evaporating hours of laughter and care and touch.
This phenomenon hit nobody as hard as America’s seniors, who are much more likely than their younger counterparts to live in care facilities and many of whom have struggled to connect in a socially distanced or virtual fashion. The elderly bore the brunt of the pandemic’s fatalities: COVID-19 has killed nearly 250,000 people over the age of 65. They also bore the brunt of its isolation. Many older Americans spent months discriminated against, frightened, and alone.