House Judiciary to consider bills to rein in Trump’s pardon power

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced Friday that the panel will mark up two bills next week intended to rein in President Trump’s pardon powers, a move that comes a week after Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime ally Roger Stone.

The first of the proposed measures to be taken up next Thursday would force the Justice Department to share with Congress files from pardons tied to investigations of the president, according to Nadler’s announcement. The second measure, the No President is Above the Law Act, would pause the statute of limitations for a president’s crimes committed during or before their presidency.

“President Trump and his friend Roger Stone did what they said they would do. Stone misled federal investigators, intimidated witnesses, and was convicted for obstruction of justice — but would not testify to the President’s wrongdoing. In exchange, President Trump made sure that Stone will never spend a day in prison,” Nadler said in a statement. “This quid pro quo is unacceptable. Congress must act.”

The development follows the White House announcement last week that Trump had granted clemency for Stone, a campaign adviser for his 2016 White House bid who had been sentenced to more than three years in prison in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Stone was convicted last year of lying to Congress in connection with its investigation into Moscow’s election interference, witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding.

Trump commuted Stone’s sentence four days before the Republican operative was set to report to prison. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany issued a statement last week announcing the commutation, painting Stone as “a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency.”

The move has drawn backlash from Democrats, who call it an abuse of power.

“President Trump has engaged in countless acts that are both self-serving and destructive to our democracy while in office, but commuting the sentence of Roger Stone, a crony who lied and obstructed our investigation to protect Trump himself, is among the most offensive to the rule of law and principles of justice,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said last week.

—Updated at 7:26 p.m.