Presidential pardon drama just got real. Boosie Badazz is fighting to recover $600,000 after claiming lobbyists failed to deliver the clemency they promised him. The Louisiana rapper opened up about the dispute during the latest episode of the Rickey Smiley On The Spot podcast, laying it all out for host Rickey Smiley.
“Some government lobbyists came to me and said, ‘We can walk in and get you a presidential pardon from Trump,'” Boosie explained. “At first I wasn’t going to entertain it, but I was under pressure.” He was facing the possibility of being resentenced over previous gun and marijuana possession charges. After receiving probation instead, Boosie decided to cut ties with the lobbyists and asked them to return the $600,000 he’d paid toward the pardon effort. When a month passed without the money returning, he filed a lawsuit, calling the whole thing a “scam.”
“I don’t know who y’all think y’all is, but I am a powerful Black man,” Boosie told Smiley, his tone making clear he wasn’t backing down from this fight. The situation speaks to the broader struggle for freedom and justice that so many in our community face—sometimes even when seeking help through official channels.
The White House has distanced itself from the lobbyists Boosie hired, disputing claims that they had any real access to the administration’s clemency process. An official told NOTUS that the White House team handling pardons had “never heard from” Jacob Wohl or Jack Burkman, didn’t support their work, and believed their involvement could “actively harm” someone’s chances of receiving clemency. Boosie’s attorney was initially told that the White House hadn’t even seen an application submitted on his behalf. A separate application was later filed directly by his lawyer, but an official cautioned that “receipt of documents should not be taken to mean anything other than documents have been received.”
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