司法部对一起可能的方案游说特朗普政府获得总统赦免表明，现已去世的加州房地产大亨捐赠600万美元支持特朗普总统-并承诺更多。
据美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)审查的文件显示，加州亿万富翁桑福德·迪勒(Sanford Diller)给出了7位数的金额，并承诺可能会有更大的捐赠，因为他寻求赦免他的朋友——一名因逃税而入狱的伯克利心理学家。
迪勒曾一度暗示，他有潜力成为一名捐赠者，其规模相当于谢尔顿·埃德森消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻和文件证实，拉斯维加斯的赌场大亨，谁给了共和党的政治事业数亿美元。
彭博通过盖蒂图像，文件
2018年11月16日，拉斯维加斯金沙公司董事长兼首席执行官、亿万富翁谢尔登·埃德森(Sheldon...
迪勒的捐款没有出现在特朗普的联邦竞选报告中。知情人士告诉美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)，这600万美元的捐款是在2016年提供给一个支持特朗普的非营利政治委员会的，与竞选活动不同，联邦法律不要求该委员会披露其捐赠者或捐款金额。
总统候选人和其他政治家经常保持政治非营利实体接受不需要身份证明的人的无限金额，尽管国税局对这些钱的使用有一些限制。
迪勒已经安排他的朋友，伯克利的心理学家休·巴拉斯，继续寻求阿贝·洛威尔的帮助，他是华盛顿最杰出和最有权力的律师之一。美国广播公司新闻审查的文件表明，洛厄尔准备了一份备忘录来为这个案子辩护。但一直没有赦免，当时73岁的巴拉斯服满了刑期。
洛厄尔本周在《国家法律杂志》的一篇专栏文章中为自己的努力辩护时说:“为了寻求对监禁判决或宽大处理的重新考虑，我被要求了解事实，研究相关法律，并撰写并向当局提交一份备忘录，解释为什么一个从未触犯法律的身体不适的老人不应该入狱。”。“这是我做的。这是律师每周每天都要做的事情。”
洛厄尔最近代表贾里德·库什纳和伊万卡·特朗普他的律师告诉美国广播公司新闻，在调查俄罗斯干预2016年选举期间，据信他没有因在此事上的角色而受到调查。
上周，洛厄尔的朋友兼律师里德·温加滕(Reid Weingarten)表示，从未有人试图贿赂政府。
“阿贝开始相信有正当的理由认为这家伙不应该做时间。寻求宽恕是一条完全正常的路线，”温加滕说。“他追求的事实——没有错。”
迪勒于2018年去世，巴拉斯于2019年出狱。巴拉斯没有回应美国广播公司新闻的置评请求。
根据上周首次公开的法庭文件，政府在8月份寻求法院命令，“以便调查小组(能够)访问”某些通信，并与案件中的个人对质，以便采取“完成调查所需的调查步骤”。
一名DOJ官员在上周对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中表示:“没有政府官员是或目前是本文件中披露的调查对象或目标。”。
Billionaire behind pardon effort pledged massive donation to Trump: Sources
New details about the Justice Department investigation into apossible schemeto lobby the Trump administration for a presidential pardon indicate that a now-deceased California real estate mogul donated $6 million to supportPresident Trump-- and promised more.
California billionaire Sanford Diller gave the seven-figure sum, and pledged the potential for an even larger donation, as he pursued a pardon for his friend, a Berkeley psychologist in prison for tax evasion, according to documents reviewed by ABC News.
Diller at one point suggested he had the potential to become a donor on the scale ofSheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who has given hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican political causes, sources told ABC News and documents confirmed.
contributions were made in 2016 to a pro-Trump nonprofit political committee, which -- unlike a campaign -- is not required by federal law to disclose its donors or donation amounts.
It is routine for presidential candidates and other politicians to maintain political nonprofit entities to accept unlimited amounts of money from people who do not need to be identified, though there are some IRS restrictions on how the money can be used.
Diller had arranged for his friend, Berkeley psychologist Hugh Baras, to retain help from Abbe Lowell, one of the most prominent and powerful D.C. attorneys. Documents reviewed by ABC News indicate that Lowell prepared a memo to argue the case. But no pardon was ever issued and Baras, who was 73 at the time, served out his sentence.
"In efforts to seek reconsideration of a jail sentence or clemency, I was retained to learn the facts, research relevant laws, and write and submit to authorities a memorandum explaining why an elderly, unwell man who had never before had a run-in with the law ought not go to jail," Lowell wrote in an op-ed in the National Law Journal this week defending his efforts. "This is what I did. It is what attorneys do every day of every week."
Lowell most recently representedJared KushnerandIvanka Trumpduring the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections, and is not believed to be under investigation for his role in the matter, his attorney told ABC News.
Last week, Reid Weingarten, a friend and attorney for Lowell, said there was never any attempt to bribe the administration.
"Abbe came to believe there were legitimate arguments to be made that this guy shouldn't do time. Seeking clemency is a completely normal route," Weingarten said. "The fact that he pursued that -- there's nothing wrong with it."
Diller died in 2018 and Baras was released from prison in 2019. Baras did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
According to court documents unsealed for the first time last week, the government in August sought a court order "so that the investigative team [could] access" certain communications, and confront individuals in the case in order to take "investigative steps needed to complete its investigation."
"No government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing," a DOJ official said in a statement to ABC News last week.
