Bradley Diller said that he did not know about his father’s relationship with Mr. Broidy or Mr. Lowell, and that his father never discussed enlisting their help — or anyone’s — in trying to obtain a pardon for Mr. Baras.
“I doubt my father would do something like that,” he said, adding that, based on their discussions, he believed his father “was just trying to help him on the up and up through legal means.”
Sanford Diller knew Mr. Broidy through Republican Jewish donor circles, according to a person familiar with their relationship. Both donated to conservative and hawkish foreign policy groups, including the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
While Mr. Diller gave $133,400 to Republican Party committees in 2016, there is no record of a donation from him to Mr. Trump’s campaign. With the exception of $23,400 in donations to Republican Senate candidates in 2014, Mr. Diller did not have a lengthy track record of Republican giving before that.
Mr. Broidy, a California businessman who owns a defense contracting firm based in Virginia, had helped raise money for Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, and after the election, he became a top fund-raising official for Mr. Trump’s inauguration and the Republican National Committee, as well as a member of Mr. Trump’s private South Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.
Mr. Broidy marketed his access to Mr. Trump to potential business partners and others seeking favor from the administration, including foreign governments and interests in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
It is not clear how Mr. Lowell became involved. He was well-known for his ties to Mr. Kushner.
Mr. Weingarten said the events took place in 2017. He played down the potential bribery scheme, saying that Mr. Lowell’s role “was simply as a routine lawyer who advocated on behalf of his client unsuccessfully.”
