Rapper Boosie showed up on the latest episode of 60 Minutes to call out the men he says scammed him out of tens of thousands of dollars with the false promise of a pardon from President Trump. The news program used the rapper’s story to examine the growing business of pardon peddling.
Boosie calls out ‘cocky’ consultants for what he sees as $600,000 scam
Boosie was one of several people to appear on the season premiere of 60 Minutes claiming that they were ripped off by Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, a pair of consultants specializing in advocating for pardons and commutations from President Trump. Boosie explained to correspondent Lesley Stahl that he gave the pair $600,000 upfront in order for them to obtain a presidential pardon for his latest criminal conviction, a gun offense. “This is what I was led to believe,” Boosie explained, “if you come with this money, you will get a pardon.” The pardon never came, and the men did not return half of Boosie’s money, as the agreement between them said. “It’s always a bunch of b.s.,” Boosie said of Wohl and Burkman’s refusal to return his money after failing to get a pardon. “They were just so cocky.”
Despite fake MAGA connections, consultants defend pardon lobbying service
As Blavity previously reported, Boosie claimed that Wohl and Burkman boasted about their supposed connections to a host of MAGA figures and Trump associates, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), and right-wing influencers like Erika Kirk, Mike Cernovich and Laura Loomer. Boosie reached out to many of these figures in social media, with several replying to tell him that they had no connections to Wohl and Burkman. Stahl confirmed that several of the figures mentioned by Wohl and Burkman, including Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp, all “denied any involvement in the case.” Wohl and Burkman sat down with 60 Minutes, denying they did anything wrong. “There’s nothing corrupt about it,” Wohl said, with Burkman adding “We don’t work for free.”
Trump’s shady, self-serving pardon practices
The 60 Minutes report noted that the vast majority of pardons issued by Trump have happened outside of the usual Justice Department process for evaluating such requests. This has created a situation in which consultants and influence brokers have charged fees of up to $3 million in order to lobby Trump for clemency. Trump has often used his pardon power for big money donors, business associates, political allies and supporters, including widespread pardons and commutations for the participants and planners of the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill insurrection. During his two administrations, Trump has also pardoned several rappers and their associates, including Lil Wayne, Kodak Black and most recently Jay-Z friend and Roc Nation executive Emory Jones. The White House responded to the 60 Minutes report, saying in a statement, “Anyone spending money to lobby for pardons is foolishly wasting their money.” The administration statement also insisted that “President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner, and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.”
Boosie is one of those individuals who was talked into “wasting their money” for a pardon that never came. He and others have now taken their story to 60 Minutes, even as both the White House and the people making dubious claims of White House connections are saying that they are doing nothing wrong.
