What did Donald Trump do today?

He fumed about not getting cut in on a bribe for a presidential pardon.

Alina Habba Mildon is yet another former Trump defense lawyer he'd appointed to the DOJ in his second term. She's also served as a senior advisor to Trump. Recently, Habba brokered a deal in which a Venezuelan billionaire would receive a pardon from Trump, and she would pocket $50 million.

Julio Herrera Velutini, a Venezuelan banker, received a pardon from Trump for a bribery conviction in January of this year. Habba is "general counsel" for a business owned by one of Velutini's daughters, for which she receives an enormous $50 million "salary." 

An outraged Trump told reporters at a Halloween party tonight that he "thought it was terrible" and that he'd personally intervened to make sure that Habba wouldn't get paid the full amount she'd arranged for. Trump specifically cited the amount that Habba was getting from Velutini's family, saying that "it was far too much."

As the New York Times has delicately put it, "Mr. Trump has, at times, chafed against the idea that his advisers are making money by selling their access to him—and has lashed out at aides when their hefty consulting fees become public."

Trump's vulnerability to this kind of manipulation by his staff is no secret, and neither is his willingness to accept bribes in exchange for pardons. But even Trump hasn't explicitly acknowledged that pardons are for sale before now, or spoken openly about his anger at not being cut in on the deal.

Trump has demanded that someone—either Habba or Velutini—make good on the debt he feels he's owed for the pardon by making a comparable donation to his presidential library, which he uses as a slush fund. 

In fairness to Velutini, he did also bribe Trump directly, via a $3.5 million donation to Trump's political action committee made just days before the pardon was signed. 
 

Why does this matter?

• Being open about corruption doesn't make it less corrupt. 

• Even if you ignore the part where selling pardons is corrupt and a crime, this is still a story about needing to be Donald Trump's crony to have any representation in American government. 

• And even if you ignore the cronyism part, it's still a story about Donald Trump getting led around by the nose by unelected staffers.