By Josh Gerstein
POLITICO
December 2, 2020
A court ruling made public Tuesday indicates that federal prosecutors have been pursuing an investigation into potential bribery in connection with an effort to secure a pardon from President Donald Trump, although details of the inquiry remain murky.
The opinion issued by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell in August and released in a heavily redacted form Tuesday shows that Howell granted prosecutors permission to examine emails involving lawyers and an effort to seek a pardon for someone whose name was deleted from the public version of the opinion.
Howell ruled that the inclusion of a nonlawyer and of a lawyer she described as an “attorney-advocate” who did not appear to be providing legal services voided the attorney-client privilege, at least for some of the messages.