THREAD: What can we glean from the heavily redacted filing regarding the "bribery for pardons" scheme under investigation by the Justice Department? https://twitter.com/kpolantz/status/1333911414273159169

1/ Today's unsealing, first reported by CNN's @kpolantz, indicates DOJ is investigating a "bribery for pardons' scheme but is heavily redacted.

Offering anything of value (including campaign contributions) for an official act is a federal crime.

Link: https://www.dcd.uscourts.gov/sites/dcd/files/20gj35%20Partial%20Unsealing%20Order.pdf

2/ A person under investigation in this scheme is an attorney and is acting as an "attorney-advocate," but that is distinct from the person's attempt to obtain a political pardon (see e.g. page 14)

3/ The attorney was not part of the individual's "defense team" and was not "formally associated" with the defense. The person was expected to assist them in obtaining a pardon due to past and possible future large campaign contributions (footnote 6).

4/ The attorney "provided merely a coordinating role" with the White House Counsel's office to ensure that the clemency petition reached the right officials (page 16).

5/ The communications were not privileged but the subject line of some emails were renamed to falsely suggest they were privileged (footnote 8).

Ultimately, the court found the communications weren't privileged because they were sent to third parties. /end