Demand Congress Investigate Trump's Pardon of Convicted Donor Adam Kidan
The Issue
Three days. That is how long it took from Adam Kidan's campaign donation landing with a vulnerable Pennsylvania congressman to Donald Trump's pardon of that same donor arriving.
Kidan spent more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud in the Jack Abramoff casino lobbying scandal. He and Abramoff invented a $23 million wire transfer to secure $60 million in loans for a casino purchase. A federal judge sentenced both men to 70 months in 2006. Courts also ordered Kidan to pay $21.7 million in restitution to the lenders they defrauded. With nearly two decades of accrued interest, Trump's pardon is expected to nullify whatever remains.
On June 30, 2026, Kidan wrote a $2,600 check to the leadership PAC of Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Pennsylvania Republican in a race the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up. Trump had campaigned alongside Mackenzie in his Lehigh Valley district one week earlier. The pardon arrived on July 3.
That timeline sits within a larger pattern. Federal records show Kidan directed approximately $270,000 to Trump-aligned committees in the 2024 cycle and has hosted fundraisers at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. In 2025 and 2026, he donated to Republicans in competitive House and Senate races across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio.
Mackenzie's office says he never advocated for the pardon and has not said whether he will return the money. Democrat Bob Brooks' campaign manager called the check and the pardon together "corruption in plain sight," according to NOTUS.
Presidential pardons are unreviewable. That is exactly why Congress must act: the public deserves a full accounting of whether political donations bought this pardon, and fraud victims deserve to know whether their restitution can be wiped away at a donor's request.
Sign this petition to demand a congressional investigation into the relationship between Adam Kidan's political donations and his presidential pardon, require Rep. Mackenzie to return the donation, and pass legislation preventing pardons from erasing court-ordered restitution to private victims.
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The Issue
Three days. That is how long it took from Adam Kidan's campaign donation landing with a vulnerable Pennsylvania congressman to Donald Trump's pardon of that same donor arriving.
Kidan spent more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud in the Jack Abramoff casino lobbying scandal. He and Abramoff invented a $23 million wire transfer to secure $60 million in loans for a casino purchase. A federal judge sentenced both men to 70 months in 2006. Courts also ordered Kidan to pay $21.7 million in restitution to the lenders they defrauded. With nearly two decades of accrued interest, Trump's pardon is expected to nullify whatever remains.
On June 30, 2026, Kidan wrote a $2,600 check to the leadership PAC of Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Pennsylvania Republican in a race the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up. Trump had campaigned alongside Mackenzie in his Lehigh Valley district one week earlier. The pardon arrived on July 3.
That timeline sits within a larger pattern. Federal records show Kidan directed approximately $270,000 to Trump-aligned committees in the 2024 cycle and has hosted fundraisers at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. In 2025 and 2026, he donated to Republicans in competitive House and Senate races across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio.
Mackenzie's office says he never advocated for the pardon and has not said whether he will return the money. Democrat Bob Brooks' campaign manager called the check and the pardon together "corruption in plain sight," according to NOTUS.
Presidential pardons are unreviewable. That is exactly why Congress must act: the public deserves a full accounting of whether political donations bought this pardon, and fraud victims deserve to know whether their restitution can be wiped away at a donor's request.
Sign this petition to demand a congressional investigation into the relationship between Adam Kidan's political donations and his presidential pardon, require Rep. Mackenzie to return the donation, and pass legislation preventing pardons from erasing court-ordered restitution to private victims.
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Petition created on July 30, 2026