Two cabinet secretaries, two pardons, roughly $2.75 million in political donations, and one deadline. CBS News reports that four Democratic lawmakers sent letters Tuesday to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, demanding answers by Oct. 20 on what role either played in pardons granted by President Trump. Congress, they wrote, needs to “better understand the extent to which influence and access have overridden the standard pardon review process.” The letters were signed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Peter Welch of Vermont and Reps. Dave Min of California and Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania.
The mechanics of pardon-seeking have become an industry. A CBS News investigation in September documented the new pardon economy on video: lobbyists offering to “put pressure on the president” in exchange for a hefty fee from a convicted felon. In the minority, Democrats cannot compel testimony; winning a chamber in November’s midterms would hand them subpoena power, and the letters read like an evidence list being compiled in advance. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said last month that lawmakers are preparing investigations into “everybody along the assembly line of clemency for cash.” Blumenthal is the ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which has a standing mandate over government corruption.
Milton: $2.75 million in, one pardon out
The letter to Kennedy concerns Trevor Milton, founder of the electric-truck company Nikola, convicted in 2022 of lying to investors. Trump pardoned him in March 2025. Before the pardon, Federal Election Commission records show, Milton and his wife donated almost $2 million to a political committee aligned with Trump’s reelection and $750,000 to the Make America Healthy Again Alliance PAC, which is aligned with Kennedy’s “MAHA” agenda. The Democrats’ letter cites a Reuters report from June that Kennedy advocated for Milton’s pardon directly to the president. A source close to Kennedy, granted anonymity, told CBS News the secretary has privately said he will not advocate for any pardons. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment; neither did Milton. After the pardon, Milton thanked Trump for “this sacred pardon of innocence,” and announced it in an email to prosecutors that they considered cocky, CBS reported.
Lake: seven months served, then a pardon
The letter to Zeldin concerns Troy Lake, a Colorado diesel mechanic convicted in 2024 of violating the Clean Air Act — a statute his pardon beneficiary now administers. Lake served seven months in federal prison. His clemency push was backed by Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis and managed by Wyoming lobbyist Jeff Daugherty. The Democrats’ letter cites a statement from Lake’s wife that appeared to credit Zeldin with getting the pardon in front of the White House. Allies of both men deny any impropriety. “It was a clean textbook pardon request,” Daugherty said. “We followed the process. We submitted the application and there were no special favors.” A senior EPA official, speaking anonymously, said Lake’s family contacted Zeldin but that he “did not make a recommendation or suggestion, other than just updating people internally on the facts of the case.”
Both letters also ask whether Kennedy or Zeldin had any relationship with Milton or Lake and whether either official advocated for other pardons. “Congress has a compelling interest in ensuring that the constitutional pardon power is exercised with fairness and transparency,” the Democrats wrote. The pardon economy has already produced stranger corners: the CFTC is investigating former congressman Adam Kinzinger for betting $823 on Kalshi contracts, including one on whether he himself would be pardoned. For the Oct. 20 letters, the testable claim is narrow: either there is a paper trail of advocacy inside HHS and EPA, or there is not. That the answer may depend on who holds subpoena power after November is itself the story.