Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7694 To provide increased Congressional oversight of certain pardons, to clarify the applicability of bribery prohibitions to pardons and commutations, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 21, 2020 Mr. SCHIFF (for himself and Mr. NADLER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide increased Congressional oversight of certain par- dons, to clarify the applicability of bribery prohibitions to pardons and commutations, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Abuse of the Pardon 4 Prevention Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT RELATING TO CER- 6 TAIN PARDONS. 7 (a) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION.—In the event 8 that the President grants an individual a pardon for a cov- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:07 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7694.IH H7694 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7694 IH ered offense, not later than 30 days after the date of such 1 pardon— 2 (1) the Attorney General shall submit to the 3 chairmen and ranking members of the appropriate 4 congressional committees— 5 (A) all materials obtained or prepared by 6 the prosecution team, including the Attorney 7 General and any United States Attorney, and 8 all materials obtained or prepared by any inves- 9 tigative agency of the United States govern- 10 ment, relating to the offense for which the indi- 11 vidual was so pardoned; and 12 (B) all materials obtained or produced by 13 the Department of Justice in relation to the 14 pardon; and 15 (2) the President shall submit to the chairmen 16 and ranking members of the appropriate congres- 17 sional committees all materials obtained or produced 18 within the Executive Office of the President in rela- 19 tion to the pardon. 20 (b) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.—Rule 6(e) of the 21 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure may not be con- 22 strued to prohibit the disclosure of information required 23 by subsection (a) of this section. 24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:07 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7694.IH H7694 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7694 IH (1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 1 mittees’’ means— 2 (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 3 House of Representatives and the Committee 4 on the Judiciary of the Senate; and 5 (B) if an investigation relates to intel- 6 ligence or counterintelligence matters, the Per- 7 manent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 8 House of Representatives and the Select Com- 9 mittee on Intelligence of the Senate. 10 (2) The term ‘‘covered offense’’ means— 11 (A) an offense against the United States 12 that arises from an investigation in which the 13 President, or a relative of the President, is a 14 target, subject, or witness; 15 (B) an offense under section 192 of title 2, 16 United States Code; or 17 (C) an offense under section 1001, 1505, 18 1512, or 1621 of title 18, United States Code, 19 provided that the offense occurred in relation to 20 a Congressional proceeding or investigation. 21 (3) The term ‘‘pardon’’ includes a commutation 22 of sentence. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:07 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7694.IH H7694 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7694 IH (4) The term ‘‘relative’’ has the meaning given 1 that term in section 3110(a) of title 5, United 2 States Code. 3 SEC. 3. BRIBERY IN CONNECTION WITH PARDONS AND 4 COMMUTATIONS. 5 Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is 6 amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in- 9 cluding the President and the Vice President of 10 the United States,’’ after ‘‘or an officer or em- 11 ployee or person’’; and 12 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before 13 the period at the end the following: ‘‘, including 14 any pardon, commutation, or reprieve, or offer 15 any such pardon, commutation, or reprieve’’; 16 and 17 (2) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting ‘‘(includ- 18 ing, for purposes of this paragraph, any pardon, 19 commutation, or reprieve, or offer any such pardon, 20 commutation, or reprieve)’’ after ‘‘corruptly gives, 21 offers, or promises anything of value’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:07 Jul 22, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7694.IH H7694 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS