Tax cheat gets Trump pardon after mom attends $1M Mar-a-Lago fundraiser

President Donald Trump pardoned a convicted tax cheat after his mother attended a $1 million-a-plate fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

Former nursing home executive Paul Walczak pleaded guilty to tax crimes shortly after the 2024 election and submitted a pardon application around Inauguration Day that focused on the political activity of his mother, Elizabeth Fago, who had raised millions of dollars for the president and other Republicans, reported the New York Times.

"It also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s 2020 campaign by publicizing the addiction diary of his daughter Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny," the Times reported.

"Mr. Walczak’s pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother’s efforts for Mr. Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees’ taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle."

The pardon didn't come until after Fago was invited to a high-dollar fundraiser at the president's private club in Palm Beach, Florida, where guests were promised face-to-face access to Trump, who granted clemency to Walczak three weeks after the gala.

"It came just in the nick of time for Mr. Walczak, sparing him from having to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution and from reporting to prison for an 18-month sentence that had been handed down just 12 days earlier," the Times reported. "A judge had justified the incarceration by declaring that there “is not a get-out-of-jail-free card” for the rich.

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The 74-year-old Fago helped host at least three fundraisers for Trump's campaigns and attended VIP events at his inaugurations with another son and his wife. She tried to facilitate the transfer of the diary to Trump campaign officials believing that it would help his chances against Biden, but campaign attorneys were alarmed and contacted the FBI instead.

"The F.B.I. did not retrieve the diary," the newspaper reported. "Instead, Mr. Kurlander and Ms. Harris entered negotiations to provide it to Project Veritas, a Trump-allied undercover media group that had been tipped to the diary’s existence by Stephanie Walczak, Ms. Fago’s daughter."

The Justice Department during Trump's first term did open an investigation into the matter that continued into Biden's term, which resulted in guilty pleas for Fago's longtime friend Robert Kurlander and Aimee Harris, the woman who found the diary at a rental home in Florida.

"In January, with Mr. Trump preparing to move back into the White House, Ms. Fago and her family traveled to Washington for the inauguration," the Times reported. "They got V.I.P. access to the Trump Victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington."

"On Feb. 5, Mr. Trump’s Justice Department said it was closing the investigation into the diary," the report added. "Ms. Fago and Ms. Walczak were not charged, nor was anyone from Project Veritas."