Matt Schlapp, an ally and unofficial adviser to former President Donald Trump, reportedly received $750,000 in lobbying fees in a span of just weeks to lobby the president for a single pardon.
Schlapp’s firm, Cove Strategies, received the sum over the course of the final two weeks of 2020 from Parker “Pete” Petit, according to an Axios report. Schlapp was lobbying the Executive Office of the President on behalf of Petit, who was seeking a pardon for a securities fraud conviction from November, lobbying records indicate.
Axios: Trump ally Matt Schlapp got $750,000 in unsuccessful pardon push https://t.co/JTXlTjmHko
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 22, 2021
Petit co-chaired the Trump campaign’s fundraising machine in Georgia during the 2016 election, Axios reported. The former health care executive is just one of a number of convicts who have hired lobbyists in an attempt to secure a presidential pardon, according to Axios. Petit ultimately did not receive a pardon from Trump. (RELATED: Christopher Steele Told FBI Of Clinton Crony’s Work On A Second Trump Dossier)
Trump issued pardons and commutations to more than 100 individuals in the final days of his term in the Oval Office. Among those on the list were former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black and several nonviolent drug offenders.