Morning! This morning’s lead story by Kenneth P. Vogel chronicles Donald Trump’s continuing and extraordinary corruption. I’ll just re-note these three quotes about it from (checks notes) two whole days ago:

Yep. Trump has issued a controversial pardon for Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive convicted of tax crimes, after his mother attended a million-dollar-a-head fundraiser for Trump.

Walczak's clemency highlights Trump's tendency to leverage his presidential powers to reward loyal supporters while sparking, let’s say, ethical questions about the motivations underlying such decisions.

Mr. Walczak faced charges stemming from his misuse of over $10 million in employment taxes withheld from his employees, money intended for Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes. Instead of paying those taxes, Walczak lived an opulent lifestyle marked by indulgent purchases such as a $2 million yacht and regular trips to luxury retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman — which you’ll remember as the place where Donald Trump sexually abused a woman and then defamed her about it — and Cartier.

Mr. Walczak’s actions prompted prosecutors to pursue 13 counts of tax crimes in 2023, ultimately resulting in his pleading guilty to two charges and agreeing to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution. The judge overseeing his case explicitly emphasized that wealth does not shield one from the law, declaring, “There is not a get-out-of-jail-free card for the rich.”

I feel bad for that judge now in hindsight. And here’s the Times being super caustic:

Following Trump’s reelection in November 2024, Walczak’s family saw a different avenue for recourse: the clemency powers of a president closely aligned with their political and personal circles. In his pardon application, Walczak framed his prosecution as politically motivated retaliation stemming from his mother’s deeply entrenched Republican activism.

Elizabeth Fago, Walczak’s mother, played a critical role in the pardon effort, leveraging her significant ties to Trump’s political orbit. A prominent fundraiser for Republican campaigns, Fago had raised millions for Trump and other GOP candidates over the years. Notably, her connections to controversial political episodes, including efforts to sabotage Joe Biden's candidacy, were highlighted in her son’s pardon application. Fago had been shown Ashley Biden’s stolen diary — a move intended to smear the Biden family during the 2020 election. Although on advice from attorneys she passed on the offer. Project Veritas ultimately obtained the diary, but Fago’s association with its, let’s say, discovery brought considerable legal scrutiny at the time.

Cherchez la maman, as they say in France.

Years later, the diary debacle resurfaced in Walczak's application, as Trump’s allies suggested it underscored the political persecution the family faced. A White House spokesperson leaned into this narrative, claiming Walczak had been “targeted by the Biden administration over his family’s conservative politics,” a refrain that became central to the arguments for granting clemency.

Fago’s proximity to Trump extended beyond donations and fundraising events. She attended several V.I.P. gatherings, including Trump inaugurations in both 2017 and 2025, demonstrating her loyalty to the president over the years. Yet, it was her attendance at an exclusive $1-million-per-person dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in May 2025 that appeared to seal the deal. Featuring intimate access to the president, this candlelight gathering funded by MAGA Inc., a Trump-aligned super PAC, exemplified how wealth and loyalty could shape…er…policy decisions. Less than three weeks after Fago’s attendance, Trump signed an “unconditional pardon,” sparing Walczak from serving an 18-month prison sentence and voiding the multi-million-dollar restitution.

To justify the clemency, Walczak’s application also sought parallels with another highly charged pardon — the one Joe Biden issued for his son Hunter Biden in late 2024. Hunter Biden’s case centered on tax and gun crimes, and in his defense Biden said his son was “singled out only because he is my son.”

Walczak’s lawyers echoed this argument, asserting the nursing home executive was prosecuted “only because he was the son of a prominent Trump supporter.”

Fair. People said at the time that Biden was wrong to pardon his son because it would open the door to corruption later. But as Donald Junior puts it: “They’re going to hit you no matter what. So we’re just going to play the game.”

Thanks for letting me read the newspaper so that you don’t have to.

Say, is there a story that might cheer me up a bit?

Sure. There’s a three-page study of all the data showing the congestion charge in New York City has done great things. An awful lot of green ink. The piece originally ran on the paper’s website on May 11 (I’m trying to figure out why the paper’s editors sit on these stories for weeks) but it looks very nice in print. Enjoy.

Matt Davis lives in Manhattan with his wife and kid.

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