60 Minutes’ “Pardon Economy” Bombshell Ignored the Clintons… and Joe Biden
24th September 2026
When Bari Weiss was hired to lead CBS News last year, many of the network’s star reporters feared the centrist founder of The Free Press news site would turn the network into a mouthpiece for the Trump administration. Longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after he accused Weiss of “murdering the show.”
If the season premiere of “60 Minutes” is any indication, progressives have little to complain about. In a segment titled “The Pardon Economy,” veteran CBS reporter Lesley Stahl alleges that Trump has upended the way U.S. presidents have dispensed pardons for “100 years or more” by creating a “new system” that involves lobbyists and high-priced “pardon brokers.”
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To situate Trump in this “pardon lobbyists” narrative, Stahl links the White House to two convicted con artists who claim close ties to Trump without disclosing one critical detail: There is no evidence the two have ever succeeded in getting anyone a pardon. While their efforts suggest that some in Washington may be trying to capitalize on the narrative about Trump’s alleged corruption – inspired, in part, by questionable pardons he has issued previously – “60 Minutes” offers no concrete proof connecting the administration to these money-making schemes.
Stahl’s report also ignored the long history of wrongdoers paying exorbitant fees for lobbyists to get their pardons viewed by the Oval Office – most famously Bill Clinton’s brother, Roger, and Hillary’s brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham.