Judging by the timeline it sure looks like Mr. Trump sold a pair of pardons in exchange for a $10,000 donation to America First Action PAC.
By Kaitlyn Schallhorn
Rep. Katie Porter says the House Natural Resources Committee is looking into a potential bribery scheme involving Trump administration officials that resulted in pardons for two ranchers convicted of setting fires on public lands.
Porter and Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., said they uncovered a possible “incident of bribery” involving Mike Ingram, an Arizona developer.
They recently requested documents from the U.S. Department of the Interior that may shed a light on whether he coordinated with administration officials to secure pardons of ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, a father and son duo convicted in 2012 of purposefully setting fires on public lands.
A few weeks later, then-Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who supported pardoning the Hammonds, said in a tweet that he spoke to Trump who said he was “seriously considering” a pardon.
The next day, on July 2, according to a letter sent to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Ingram made a $10,000 donation to the pro-Trump America First Action PAC.
Trump pardoned the Hammonds on July 10, 2018.
Mike Ingram claims to not know Dwight and Steven Hammond, but the timing of his donation to America First Action PAC makes it highly suspect.