broidy was also a key part of the presidential inaugural committee, which has come under lots of legalll talk about that more this hour. he was also part of the republican national committee's finance team along with mike the cohen and the disgraced casino billionaire steve wynn and all sorts of other unsavory characters. but now there's understandably been a lot of speculation in the last couple of days, once we got this court document about who might have been seeking this pardon from trump, especially with all the family members and friends and well known associates trump has reportedly been considering preemptively pardoning before he leaves office. we'll be talking more about that tonight too. but it turns out according to "the new york times" reporting tonight, the guy who was seeking this pardon which led to this justice department investigation into whether or not pardons were for sale in the trump administration, the guy who was going to pay the bribe to make it all happen, it seems like these are guys that nobody's ever really heard of. this is from "the times" tonight. quote

kushner -- abbe lowell -- and the fund-raiser, elliott broidy, who pled guilty in october to a charge related to a different scheme to illegally lobby the trump administration. elliott broidy is a figure who has popped up in a lot of trump-related scandals since before the inauguration. broidy pled guilty to a scheme to lobby the trump administration on behalf of undisclosed foreign clients weeks ago, not long ago. broidy was also a key part of the presidential inaugural committee, which has come under lots of legal scrutiny. we'll talk about that more this hour. he was also part of the republican national committee's finance team, along with michael cohen and the disgraced casino billionaire steve wynn and other sorts of savory characters. but now there's understandably been a lot of speculation over the last couple days, once we got this court document, about who might have been seeking this pardon from trump, especially with all the family members and friends and well-known associates trump has reportedly been considering preemptively pardoning before he leaves office. we'll be tal

elliott broidy himself is not on tonight's pardon list. he's not not getting pardoned yet. but weirdly the cross between him and steve stockman, who was just pardoned, is that steve stockman at one point right before he went to prison, less than two weeks before he went to prison, steve stockman wrote to elliott broidy to tell him trump should give him an ambassadorship. he wanted to be ambassador to the united arab emirates because he said he had, in his words, quote, many friends there. and he made the ask right before he went to prison on 23 federal felony counts. and now the trump donor, who he asked that favor of, who he asked to convey the request to president trump, he is also now a federal convict awaiting his prison time at least until he gets pardoned by president trump too. that's the trump era. that's steve stockman tonight, who is now enjoying his pardon. he was a trump supporter all the while, regardless of whatever else was going on with him and his criminal record. he's got his pardon tonight too. president trump has pardoned two people convicted in the russ

broidy sent him to abbe lowell. that's not lobbying, the attorney claimed. lowell's attorney said that his client's role was, quote, honorable, predictable, ethical lawyering. it was utterly predictable, given the task he was given to accomplish. lowell's attorney also said that if the client approached the white house counsel's office for clemency, it was, quote, utterly routine. he said lowell's involvement was in the early days of the trump administration in early 2017. diller died in february of 2018. the white house isn't commenting and has referred inquiries to the department of justice. a justice department official told nbc news earlier this week that no government official is or was a subject or target of the investigation. when your lawyer needs a lawyer, you know you're in a little bit of trouble. >>> meanwhile, politico reports that the president is still considering preemptive pardons for up to 20 of his allies, but there's concern -- gee -- that it would look like an admission of guilt. it's been reported that the president has discussed pardon

an attorney general for elliott broidy reads in part, quote, mr.on and has not been accused by anyone of any wrongdoing whatsoever. lowell's attorney said, abb's role was honorable, predictable, ethical lawyering. it was utterly predictable given the task he was given to accomplish. if he approached the white house office for clem envir it w vivv it was ultimatterly routine. no one has charged in connection with the justice department investigation. let's bring in peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and an msnbc political analyst. peter, it's great to see you. we should point out so our viewers know, a justice department official told nbc news earlier this week that no government official is or was subject or a target of the investigation as well. i want to make sure we're clear about that, for standards purposes. but you have covered many a president, many an administration. they said there was nothing unusual about this in that statement for abbe lowell. do you agree with that? i mean, it seems like many things i

broidy is not under investigation or accused of any wrongdoing whatsoever says his lawyer.trump associate named by "times" is lowell. also happens to be the lawyer for jared kushner. lowell's attorney says abbe's role was honorable, predictable and ethical lawyering. if he approached the white house counsel's office for clemency, it was utterly routine. like that "if" there. not currently a live investigation. but pardons can be abused or important tool of mercy, grace and to fight wrongs in the justice system. people spend entire careers tryi trying to make sure the pardon use is used widely. someone who did that says this is unprecedented. joins me next. joins me next. come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. >>oh my gosh you made it! ♪ did you put some ah, kale in the greens? ♪ we didn't forget about you! welcome to the family. thank you. wooooow. ♪ did you know you can shorten your cold wo[♪]ow. with cold-eeze® lozenges. cold-eeze® can shorten your cold by 42%. it releases zinc ions that some scientists believe inhibit cold viruses from re

whole range of people, mike flynn he's already pardoned, but roger stone, paul manafort, elliott broidythe republican national committee, there are a lot of people that he could help and potentially some of those people might have information about him and helping them will help the president not have them disclose that information about him. the flip side is that the president is also exploring the idea of trying to force through special counsels for his political enemies, so protect friends, go after enemies. encourage the special counsel, for example, for hunter biden is one of the things that's on the table. >> john, before we go, what do we know about the president apparently telling some of these advisers at least at one point that he was considering not leaving the white house on inauguration day. >> you know, poppy, the president says and thinks a lot of things that are pretty wacky. he got asked this question directly by a reporter a couple of weeks ago and he said i'm going to leave the white house. you know -- you know that. you know i'm going to leave. i think that is the re

reports that this past summer the justice department investigated a top fund-raiser for trump, elliott broidy and jared kushner's lawyer on the roles they both may have played in a suspected scheme to offer a bribe on behalf of a billionaire real estate developer in exchange for clemency for a tax crimes conviction. "the times" says no one has been charged in the inquiry. and politico has new reporting on the matter of pardons that says trump is considering preemptively pardoning more than 20 aides and associates before leaving the office. trump is, quote, ashoohing the typical protocol of cases through the justice department. those include everyone from trump's personal attorney rudy giuliani to several members of his family, all people who have not been charged with a crime. earlier evening, joe biden was asked about those reports on trump pardons. >> it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as nation of laws and injustice. our justice department is going to operate independently on those issues that -- how to respond to any of that

representatives for abby lowell, for broidy and hugh barris say they have no indication they are chinestigation or there is any wrongdoing. they spoke to doj and they gave no indication that he did anything wrong. doj released a statement saying no government official is the subject or target of this investigation. no charges have happened, and we don't even know this is an active or closed case. but there are certainly a lot of questions raised, erin, about this scheme that doj has been investigating, something that happened early on in the trump administration. this comes as there's a lot of focus on who the president will pardon in his final weeks in office. we know there's going to be a flurry of pardons. and even though this was -- these were efforts, this was an alleged scheme, we know that there was no pardon that has been granted to hugh barris. >> thank you very much, pam. and this coming as we know president trump has discussed and considered preemptive pardons for his family and each himself possibly. "outfront" now, a man running two investigations that no pardon can prote

broidy is not under investigation and has not been accused of any wrong doing, and abbe's lawyer says his role was honorable and predictable. there's this from the donk. no government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing. the documents are heavily redacted associated with the investigation. they don't put any names. that's why folks, reporters are trying to figure it out. michael schmidt is joining us now. he has the lead by line on the story. michael, great to have you on the show. thanks for being back. we gave the headlines from your reporting. take us deeper into the players allegedly involved and what they're accused of doing. >> that was a good way of laying it out. i like that graphic. it made a lot of sense. it was helpful. at the most basic level, the problem with this attempted scheme which ultimately didn't turn out in a pardon or clemency for this individual who is seeking it is that donald trump has treated pardons and commutations like white house party favors and gave aways. he has not relied on the normal system