Lawmakers request information on reported pardon for acting DHS secretary

Three lawmakers on Tuesday requested information on whether President Trump offered to pardon acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan if McAleenan broke any laws while implementing Trump’s immigration policies.  

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), as well as committee members Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), requested the information from McAleenan, according to a copy of the letter published by CNN. 

“These allegations, if true, would represent a grave breach of the duties of the President,” the letter said.  {mosads}

Trump told McAleenan he ”would pardon him if he ever went to jail for denying U.S. entry to migrants,” CNN reported Saturday, citing two officials briefed on the exchange. The New York Times reported that Trump asked McAleenan to close the border and told the acting secretary that he would pardon him if the directive caused him legal problems. 

“The reported discussion between you, President Trump, and other Department personnel follows a troubling pattern of conduct that has emerged over the past two years that appears to demonstrate that President Trump views the pardon power as a political tool, or even worse, as an expedient mechanism for circumventing the law or avoiding the consequences of his own conduct,” the lawmakers wrote.

They gave McAleenan until April 30 to provide the information and also requested that he and other officials who may be familiar with the reported exchange testify before Congress. 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied the allegations that Trump offered McAleenan a pardon and that he asked him to close the border. 

McAleenan became acting DHS secretary after Kirstjen Nielsen resigned form the agency’s top job earlier this month. He was previously serving as Customs and Border Protection commissioner.