Donald Trump is facing new accusations of selling presidential pardons after he wiped clean the record of a man convicted of tax crimes — just weeks after the man’s mother paid $1 million to attend a high-dollar fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.
According to The New York Times, Paul Walczak, a Florida health care executive, was pardoned less than three weeks after his mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended the exclusive Mar-a-Lago event. Tickets reportedly went for $1 million each.
Walczak had pleaded guilty in November to failing to pay employment taxes and failing to file his own tax returns. The Justice Department said he withheld nearly $7.5 million from workers’ paychecks and didn’t turn it over to the IRS.
In early April, Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay over $4 million in restitution. His full pardon from Trump erased both the prison sentence and the financial penalties.
The Times reports that Fago has been a loyal Trump backer for years. She helped host at least three Trump fundraisers, attended both of his inaugurations, and was linked in her son’s pardon application to efforts to smear President Biden by publicizing his daughter’s stolen diary during the 2020 election.
The original pardon request, submitted shortly after Trump’s first inauguration, claimed that Fago’s political work triggered the prosecution. But nothing happened until she showed up at the million-dollar Mar-a-Lago event earlier this year. Then, within weeks, her son walked free.
The suspicious timing is sparking fresh scrutiny of Trump’s use of presidential clemency — especially after his mass pardon of nearly all Jan. 6 defendants on his first day back in office. That sweeping move covered roughly 1,500 people charged in the 2021 Capitol attack.
Trump has already issued more than three dozen other pardons during his second term — an unprecedented pace, far ahead of previous presidents.
While Trump criticizes Biden’s last-minute pardons — including for Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the House Jan. 6 panel — critics say Trump’s own use of the pardon power raises far more serious questions.
There is no direct evidence of a quid pro quo. But the optics are undeniable: a million-dollar donation, followed by a pardon that saved a convicted man from prison and millions in fines.
The question many are now asking: Is Trump turning presidential pardons into a pay-to-play scheme?
