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Billionaire pardoned after hiring Trump's ex-lawyer for $50M NYT · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Alina Haba, President Trump's former personal attorney, is hitting back
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: at new reporting from The New York Times, claiming she
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: was given a lucrative deal from the family of a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: prominent Venezuelan billionaire just weeks before he was pardoned by Mr.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Trump.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: The banker, Julio Herrera Valentini, was indicted by the Justice
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Department in 2022 for an alleged scheme to bribe Puerto
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Rico's then governor in exchange for replacing a regulator investigating
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: his bank. In 2025, he pled guilty to a lesser charge,
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  Speaker 1: a single misdemeanor campaign finance charge, and was pardoned by
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  Speaker 1: President Trump shortly before he was set to be sentenced. Now,
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  Speaker 1: according to The New York Times, while serving as New
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Jersey's acting U.S. attorney, Habba finalized a more than $ 50
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: million agreement to work with a new company established by
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  Speaker 1: Herrera's daughter. The Times says she started formally working with
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: them just weeks before the president pardoned Herrera. Today on
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  Speaker 1: social media, Habba denied any role in the pardon, saying,
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  Speaker 1: The fake news still seems very confused by this, so
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  Speaker 1: let me be even more clear. I was never paid
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  Speaker 1: to secure a pardon. I never met with anyone at
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the White House or DOJ about a pardon. I've never
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  Speaker 1: done any work in any capacity whatsoever for a pardon
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: for anyone, period. A White House official told The Times
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  Speaker 1: Habba had nothing to do with the pardon and that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the administration follows a pardon review process that includes the
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: White House Counsel's Office and the Justice Department. Joining me
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  Speaker 1: now is New York Times White House correspondent Tyler Pager,
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  Speaker 1: who broke the story. So Tyler, can you walk us
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: through the timeline of how Habba got involved with Herrera
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: and his family and what they wanted from her?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's unclear exactly what they explicitly asked her
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  Speaker 3: to do. What we know is that In October 2025,
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: she was finalizing this deal to join a company called
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: Concord Partners. Concord Partners, just days before this deal was
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: being finalized, was registered in Florida by Isabella Herrera, Julio
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  Speaker 3: Herrera's daughter. And she was signing on to be general counsel.
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  Speaker 3: But in my reporting and in conversations with sources, it's
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  Speaker 3: unclear exactly what this company does.
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  Speaker 1: What did she get from them?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so she got a financial contract that was $ 10
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  Speaker 3: million a year for four years, plus a range of
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  Speaker 3: different bonuses that totaled $ 50 million at the minimum, or
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  Speaker 3: more than $ 50 million at the minimum over the life
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: of the contract.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that's an incredible contract for any general counsel.
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  Speaker 1: Was she still working as a special government employee at
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  Speaker 1: the time she was given this contract?
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so she started formally at the firm on January 1st, 2026.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: And at the time, she was a senior advisor to
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Attorney General Pam Bondi, overseeing U.S. attorneys.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: And Herrera's daughter also donated $ 3. 5 million to Trump's super PAC. Separately,
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  Speaker 1: the Washington Post report, she pledged $ 2. 5 million toward the
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: president's White House ballroom project before her father's pardon. What
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: questions do those contributions raise in your views?
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, Anderson, we have seen this pattern since Donald
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Trump came back to office. People that are looking for
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: pardons have taken a series of steps to get them.
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  Speaker 3: And those include making financial contributions to political causes directly
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  Speaker 3: associated with President Donald Trump or causes that he supports.
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  Speaker 3: They've hired a select group of lawyers who have either
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: worked for or are closely aligned with Donald Trump. And
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  Speaker 3: so we've seen this playbook before. And the reason we
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  Speaker 3: continue to see it is because it has worked. We
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  Speaker 3: have you know, my colleagues have reported other cases where
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  Speaker 3: people have paid five hundred thousand dollars or a million
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: dollars for lawyers directly involved in pardon cases. processes. Now, again,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: we should make clear that Alina Haba says she had
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: nothing to do with this pardon, but the Herrera family
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  Speaker 3: clearly saw a playbook that other people were having success
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  Speaker 3: with and adopted it.
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  Speaker 1: Tyler Pager, thanks so much. I really appreciate the reporting.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much for having me, Anderson.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Back now with our panel. You know, regardless of the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: the this particular story, government corruption comes in second. I mean,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: if you look at the polling, second only behind the
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: cost of living in the latest CNN poll of polls.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: of top issues for voters this fall. That, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't really surprise me, but I think it's pretty remarkable.
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  Speaker 1: It's probably the first time we have seen this.
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  Speaker 4: It really popped in this poll that we released today,
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: our final sort of national poll snapshot before the election,
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  Speaker 4: as an issue. And yes, it's still far behind the economy.
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  Speaker 4: That is far and away the number one issue. But
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: the fact that it is up there, and Anderson, This
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  Speaker 4: story that you just talked to Tyler about and the
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: stories about who donated to the ballroom and what they got,
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: this is just building the to-do list for Hakeem Jeffries
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: and the Democrats. If indeed they do take the House majority,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: I think you're going to see a very concerted effort
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: among Democrats if they make it to the majority vote.
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  Speaker 4: to focus their oversight and investigative powers on this kind
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: of stuff and try to tie it directly to how
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: voters are feeling, which is it's not just like, oh,
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  Speaker 4: this is corruption and boy, that's terrible. It's this system
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  Speaker 4: is rigged against me and people with connections get the
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: benefit and I'm hurting economically and they see the things
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: tied together. And that has provided a really toxic brew
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  Speaker 4: for Republicans this campaign season.
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  Speaker 1: And I mean, does any of this surprise you? I'm sorry. Kristen, sorry.
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  Speaker 5: No, this doesn't surprise me. We've been seeing political corruption
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  Speaker 5: rising in our polls as well. Some of that, I
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  Speaker 5: would note, is Republicans who are talking about this as
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: an issue in terms of things like government fraud. So
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: it's not all about. Trump administration mischief. But, you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: Donald Trump's case to voters for over a decade has
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  Speaker 5: been built on two things. I'm a business guy who's
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: going to be good at the economy. And even as
• 6:10
  Speaker 5: we've been discussing earlier, you know, in prior midterms, voters said,
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  Speaker 5: I don't like the guy, but at least he's good
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: at the economy. That's now gone away. But the other
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: piece of Donald Trump's message to voters has always been,
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  Speaker 5: I'm an outsider. I'm rich myself. I don't need this
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  Speaker 5: job for anything. I'm doing this for you. I'm going
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  Speaker 5: to drain the swamp. And now voters are looking and
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  Speaker 5: they're seeing all of these people around the president making
• 6:30
  Speaker 5: an awful lot of money off of cryptocurrency or contracts.
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  Speaker 5: And it just feels very unseemly. And I have heard
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: in focus groups, people who voted for Donald Trump in
• 6:40
  Speaker 5: 2024 going, what is this guy doing? And that is
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: part of what's creating these real headwinds for Republicans.
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  Speaker 1: And I do want to make sure, I mean, Habba
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  Speaker 1: says she was never paid to secure a pardon, that
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  Speaker 1: she's done nothing wrong. The Times has obviously reported what
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: it reported. The issue of corruption, though, do you hear
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  Speaker 1: this a lot from voters you talk to? From everyone.
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  Speaker 2: And it wasn't just on the CNN poll. It showed
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  Speaker 2: up as one of the top issues of concern for
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: voters on the Fox News poll. And listen, this is
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: part of the drip, drip, drip, right? So this week,
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: it's Alina Haba and this alleged contract. Last week, we
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: learned about Kimberly Goldfoyle, Donald Trump Jr. 's former fiancé,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: ambassador to Greece for Donald Trump, and her alleged request
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: of $ 100, 000 from a Trump donor to pay for her
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Amex bill.
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  Speaker 6: Honey, please.
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  Speaker 3: Just....
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  Speaker 2: Who doesn't ask a friend for $ 100, 000 to pay for
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: the Amex bill? The week before that, we learned that
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  Speaker 2: Donald Trump Jr. 's company that he just invested in
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: had gotten billion dollars in contracts from the government. Weeks
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  Speaker 2: before that, we learned that Donald Trump's Junior's wedding party,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: the party at his wedding, had been paid by a
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  Speaker 2: Russian oligarch. Weeks before that, we learned about, you know,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: the ballroom, Melania's documentary sold to Amazon, the crypto grift.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just one thing after another, while regular
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Americans are paying $ 5 for gas, $ 6 for diesel, $ 6. 30
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: for a pound of ground beef. And making, you know,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: having a hard time making ends meet. And these people
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  Speaker 2: are just like in this, you know, let them eat cake,
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  Speaker 2: Marie Antoinette, you know, who cares type of mode.
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  Speaker 6: It's horrible.
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  Speaker 1: Pete, I mean, when you were in the George W.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Bush White House, this is a far cry from anything.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a far cry from anything we've seen before.
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  Speaker 6: Well, we actually had an incident in the George W.
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  Speaker 6: Bush White House in the final weeks of the administration
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  Speaker 6: in December of 2008. In fact, it was two days
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: before Christmas when President Bush issued 19 pardons. And then
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  Speaker 6: a news report was published about one of the individuals
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: pardoned and the fact that his father had donated to
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: the Republican National Committee. Photos surfaced of this father with
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: President Bush at a grip and grin fundraiser. And for
• 9:10
  Speaker 6: those who have ever been to one of those, you know,
• 9:13
  Speaker 6: you get literally about seven seconds with the president. But
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  Speaker 6: there was that appearance of impropriety that people were concerned
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  Speaker 6: about and some shady dealings that took place or some
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: personal connections or friendships that led to the pardon. So
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  Speaker 6: what President Bush did was he rescinded, he revoked the
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  Speaker 6: pardon the next day on Christmas Eve because it had
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  Speaker 6: not yet been personally delivered to that individual. So the
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  Speaker 6: Department of Justice deemed that he was able to do that.
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  Speaker 6: It was an unprecedented decision, but it was for this
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  Speaker 6: very reason. It's so that the public did not think
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  Speaker 6: there was something corrupt happening and that led to the pardon.
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  Speaker 1: The idea of that, I mean, It seems like a
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  Speaker 1: quaint time. like that. I mean, it's remarkable looking back
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  Speaker 1: now at something like that.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and for Republicans, you know, they
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  Speaker 5: look at things like this and they go, well, what
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: did Joe Biden do as his.
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  Speaker 2: Last act on the way out the door?
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  Speaker 5: He preemptively kind of pardoned a bunch of his family
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  Speaker 5: members that you can think back to the end of
• 10:14
  Speaker 5: the Clinton administration and the pardons that came at the
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  Speaker 5: end of that. And that was a huge political firestorm.
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  Speaker 5: And we've just now gotten so far away from that
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  Speaker 5: to now we're a quarter century later. Things like this
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  Speaker 5: can happen. And they're but a blip, not a week's
• 10:28
  Speaker 5: long news story.
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  Speaker 4: And it's so much broader than a pardon.
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  Speaker 2: One of the cudgels that they used in the 2024
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: campaign was Hunter Biden. And frankly, the money that Hunter
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Biden got from Burisma seems like chump change. in comparison
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: to the numbers that are being thrown around and in such,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: you know, it's not just the sun. It is practically
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: everybody around Donald Trump. Now, Hunter Biden had to go
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: in and testify for seven hours in front of a
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: congressional committee. So to your point, the question will be,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: will Democrats have the spine to do the same?