Court documents: DOJ reviewing 'secret' pardon bribery scheme targeting White House officials

The Justice Department is reviewing possible evidence of a secret scheme to obtain a presidential pardon in exchange for a "substantial political contribution," according to federal court records made public Tuesday.

The heavily redacted records, unsealed by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, the chief judge in the Washington, D.C., district, did not identify possible suspects in the case but indicated that unnamed "senior White House officials" were the targets of the alleged plot.

According to the 20-page filing, authorities are investigating an attempt to secure a pardon or a sentence reduction.

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The disclosure, first reported by CNN, comes as President Donald Trump has been weighing possible pardons for associates, some of whom were swept up in the two-year investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

Trump dismissed the investigation – conducted by his own administration – as “fake news” in a tweet Tuesday night.

Last week, Trump issued a full pardon to former national security adviser Michael Flynn who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian ambassador. Earlier this year, Trump commuted the sentence of longtime confidant Roger Stone, a Republican operative convicted of lying to Congress to protect the president's campaign from the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.

Investigators, according to court documents, had been seeking permission since August to review the contents of at least 50 digital devices, including laptops, thumb drives and hard drives for possible evidence of a bribery conspiracy.

On Tuesday, the judge granted the government's request, indicating that the information was not protected by any attorney-client privilege.

So far, according to court documents, a grand jury investigation has resulted in no charges against at least two people who have drawn the scrutiny of federal investigators.

The White House declined to comment Tuesday.

But a Justice official said that "no government official was or is" a target in the investigation. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, declined to elaborate on the inquiry.

In the waning weeks of Trump's administration, the president is expected to consider a range of possible relief.