MS NOW host Jen Psaki on Tuesday chronicled a “crazy insane” bombshell report from The New York Times concerning former Justice Department adviser Alina Habba, who received more than $50 million after helping a Venezuelan billionaire secure a presidential pardon.

“In a statement to the Times, Habba denied any role in the pardon, saying, quote, ‘Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the DOJ — had anything to do with securing the pardon is false,’” Psaki noted Tuesday on “The Briefing.”

“But man, that sequence of events sure is freakin’ interesting, isn’t it? Crazy insane,” she said.

The Times on Tuesday reported Habba was still at the DOJ when billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini sought a pardon from President Donald Trump for U.S. bribery charges, even after they were reduced in a lenient 2025 plea deal to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation.

“And so what did he do, everyone?” Psaki teased. “Well, according to the Times, this Venezuelan billionaire hired a former member of Trump’s legal team to lobby for him. His daughter donated $3.5 million to a super PAC tied to Trump, but the pardon he wanted remained elusive.”

She continued, “And then the Herrera family hired Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer, who was at the time still an adviser at the Trump Justice Department, everyone! This is the crazy part of this! And they offered Alina Habba $10 million a year for four years along with a range of bonuses.”

The Times reported that Habba was guaranteed more than $50 million over those four years, citing interviews and documents the outlet obtained, as general counsel at Concord Partners, a firm formed in October 2025 by Velutini’s daughter, Isabela Herrera.

“She formally began her work for that company, which, no one knows what they do, on January 1st,” Psaki said. “And just weeks later, wouldn’t you know it, Trump granted [Velutini] a full and unconditional pardon.”

To discuss the “very damning picture” the report paints, Psaki brought on former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who stated bluntly, “I mean, Jen, literally everything in this administration is for sale, including the actual people who work for the president.”

Oyer argued that what is most “stunning and damaging” about this entire case, however, is that Velutini was charged with bribing a government official in the first place, “to shut down an investigation into the bank that he owned.”

She continued, “And now, he’s bribing another government official to try to get out of trouble for the first bribe. So, it really just illustrates the extent to which this corruption feeds off of itself and creates this vicious cycle of lawlessness.”

Watch the full “Briefing” segment on MS NOW’s YouTube account.

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