‘So gross and corrupt’: Marjorie Taylor Greene just blasted Donald Trump for selling a pardon for $1 million
Diligent clemency process or "pardon industry"?
Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene recently hit out at President Donald Trump in a post on X, calling a recent pardon deal “so gross and corrupt.” Her comments came after more details emerged in the case of Trump granting a full pardon to Joseph Schwartz, a Jewish nursing home operator. Schwartz had served only three months of a three-year sentence for a nearly $39 million fraud scheme.
The pardon, issued on November 14, 2025, erased Schwartz’s federal conviction. Federal prosecutors had stated that Schwartz refused to pay payroll taxes withheld from employees’ wages across 11 states. According to a ProPublica investigation, Schwartz funneled over $1 million to lobbyists, including figures connected to the White House, to secure this clemency. He reportedly paid $960,000 to lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl specifically to get the pardon.
Greene’s reaction aligns with a pattern she has increasingly highlighted, where she describes Trump’s clemency process as a “pardon industry” that rewards wealthy, well-connected donors. ProPublica also noted that Schwartz is just one of several nursing home operators who received favorable treatment, echoing earlier commutations for individuals like Philip Esformes and Judith Negron.
Schwartz walked free, but his victim’s families are still reeling from the impact of his crimes
While Schwartz’s federal conviction was wiped clean, the victims of neglect at his Skyline Healthcare facilities received no relief. Families who had won multimillion-dollar wrongful-death judgments, including $19 million for one patient’s family and $15.7 million for another, were left empty-handed. Schwartz only paid partial restitution in the federal case, keeping the rest of his assets protected.
On the same day, Greene doubled down on her criticisms during a virtual fundraiser for Representative Thomas Massie. She spoke passionately against what she claimed were “three Jewish billionaires” funding Massie’s primary challenger, Ed Gallrein. Greene asserted that these individuals prioritized “loyalty to Israel, not the United States of America” and were attempting to “buy a seat in Congress.”
During the fundraiser, Greene declared, “You know who has not been tested? His [Massie’s] opponent. His opponent who is literally propped up and funded by three Jewish billionaires.”
She then clarified, “Now look, I’m not anti-Semitic, I don’t care what people’s religion are, but these three billionaires that are funding this opponent against Thomas Massie don’t even live in Kentucky, they’re not eve-, they don’t have a home in his district. And their loyalty is to Israel, not the United States of America. And that is so public, that information is out there everywhere. It doesn’t take me saying it, it’s already been said by so many others.”
The former representative has always pushed for the ‘America First’ approach
Greene continued to frame the battle as an “America First” fight. She urged supporters to donate to Massie’s campaign and emphasized her belief that this election marked the first time in her lifetime where “real foreign interests” had entered the country to try and “buy a seat in Congress,” specifically trying to install a man they could “fully control.”
She said, “This is a fight against a foreign country, against foreign interests, and against foreign money. And it’s that type of foreign money that has already bought off most members of Congress, and I think everyone knows it and I’m willing to talk about it. I’ll take all the arrows. I’ll take all of the attacks, but it has to be said. This is extremely important.”
Greene concluded by stating, “That three billionaires, three billionaires that aren’t even from the district that are 100% for a foreign country and say it out loud all the time are willing to try to buy a seat in Congress. I mean, it should be illegal. That honestly should be illegal.”
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