Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4933 To provide increased oversight of certain pardons, to clarify the applicability of bribery prohibitions to pardons and commutations, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 1, 2020 Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To provide increased oversight of certain pardons, 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 of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE OVERSIGHT RELATING 6 TO CERTAIN PARDONS. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4933 IS (1) COVERED OFFENSE.—The term ‘‘covered 1 offense’’ means— 2 (A) an offense against the United States 3 that arises from an investigation in which the 4 President, or a relative of the President, is a 5 target, subject, or witness; 6 (B) an offense under section 192 of title 2, 7 United States Code; or 8 (C) an offense under section 1001, 1505, 9 1512, or 1621 of title 18, United States Code, 10 provided that the offense occurred in relation to 11 a Congressional proceeding or investigation. 12 (2) INSPECTOR GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Inspec- 13 tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De- 14 partment of Justice. 15 (3) PARDON.—The term ‘‘pardon’’ includes a 16 commutation of sentence. 17 (4) RELATIVE.—The term ‘‘relative’’ has the 18 meaning given that term in section 3110(a) of title 19 5, United States Code. 20 (b) REQUIRED INVESTIGATION.—In the event that 21 the President grants an individual a pardon for a covered 22 offense, as soon as practicable after the date of such par- 23 don, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice 24 shall begin an investigation of the pardon. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4933 IS (c) REQUIRED INFORMATION.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 2 the date on which the President grants an individual 3 a pardon for a covered offense, for purposes of an 4 investigation under subsection (b)— 5 (A) the Attorney General shall submit to 6 the Inspector General— 7 (i) all materials obtained or prepared 8 by the prosecution team, including the At- 9 torney General and any United States At- 10 torney, and all materials obtained or pre- 11 pared by any investigative agency of the 12 United States government, relating to the 13 offense for which the individual was so 14 pardoned; and 15 (ii) all materials obtained or produced 16 by the Department of Justice in relation to 17 the pardon; and 18 (B) the President shall submit to the In- 19 spector General all materials obtained or pro- 20 duced within the Executive Office of the Presi- 21 dent in relation to the pardon. 22 (2) REPORT ON NONCOMPLIANCE.—Not later 23 than 10 days after the date on which the Attorney 24 General or President fails or refuses to comply with 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4933 IS the requirement under paragraph (1), the Inspector 1 General shall submit a report to Congress on the 2 failure or refusal, which shall include a list of the 3 documents or information that has not been sub- 4 mitted as required under paragraph (1). 5 (d) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.—Rule 6(e) of the 6 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure may not be con- 7 strued to prohibit the disclosure of information required 8 by subsection (c) of this section. 9 (e) REPORT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Inspector General shall 11 submit to Congress and publish a report of the find- 12 ings of each investigation conducted under this sec- 13 tion. 14 (2) FORM OF REPORT.—Each report submitted 15 to Congress under this subsection shall be in unclas- 16 sified form, but may, if necessary, contain a classi- 17 fied annex. 18 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT RELATING TO CER- 19 TAIN PARDONS. 20 (a) SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION.—In the event 21 that the President grants an individual a pardon for a cov- 22 ered offense, not later than 30 days after the date of such 23 pardon— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4933 IS (1) the Attorney General shall submit to the 1 chairmen and ranking members of the appropriate 2 congressional committees— 3 (A) all materials obtained or prepared by 4 the prosecution team, including the Attorney 5 General and any United States Attorney, and 6 all materials obtained or prepared by any inves- 7 tigative agency of the United States govern- 8 ment, relating to the offense for which the indi- 9 vidual was so pardoned; and 10 (B) all materials obtained or produced by 11 the Department of Justice in relation to the 12 pardon; and 13 (2) the President shall submit to the chairmen 14 and ranking members of the appropriate congres- 15 sional committees all materials obtained or produced 16 within the Executive Office of the President in rela- 17 tion to the pardon. 18 (b) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.—Rule 6(e) of the 19 Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure may not be con- 20 strued to prohibit the disclosure of information required 21 by subsection (a) of this section. 22 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 (1) The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com- 24 mittees’’ means— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4933 IS (A) the Committee on the Judiciary of the 1 House of Representatives and the Committee 2 on the Judiciary of the Senate; and 3 (B) if an investigation relates to intel- 4 ligence or counterintelligence matters, the Per- 5 manent Select Committee on Intelligence of the 6 House of Representatives and the Select Com- 7 mittee on Intelligence of the Senate. 8 (2) The term ‘‘covered offense’’ means— 9 (A) an offense against the United States 10 that arises from an investigation in which the 11 President, or a relative of the President, is a 12 target, subject, or witness; 13 (B) an offense under section 192 of title 2, 14 United States Code; or 15 (C) an offense under section 1001, 1505, 16 1512, or 1621 of title 18, United States Code, 17 provided that the offense occurred in relation to 18 a Congressional proceeding or investigation. 19 (3) The term ‘‘pardon’’ includes a commutation 20 of sentence. 21 (4) The term ‘‘relative’’ has the meaning given 22 that term in section 3110(a) of title 5, United 23 States Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4933 IS SEC. 4. BRIBERY IN CONNECTION WITH PARDONS AND 1 COMMUTATIONS. 2 Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is 3 amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, in- 6 cluding the President and the Vice President of 7 the United States,’’ after ‘‘or an officer or em- 8 ployee or person’’; and 9 (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting before 10 the period at the end the following: ‘‘, including 11 any pardon, commutation, or reprieve, or offer 12 any such pardon, commutation, or reprieve’’; 13 and 14 (2) in subsection (b)(3), by inserting ‘‘(includ- 15 ing, for purposes of this paragraph, any pardon, 16 commutation, or reprieve, or offer any such pardon, 17 commutation, or reprieve)’’ after ‘‘corruptly gives, 18 offers, or promises anything of value’’. 19 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON PRESIDENTIAL SELF-PARDON. 20 The President’s grant of a pardon to himself or her- 21 self is void and of no effect, and shall not deprive the 22 courts of jurisdiction, or operate to confer on the Presi- 23 dent any legal immunity from investigation or prosecution. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4933 IS SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 1 If any provision of this Act, an amendment made by 2 this Act, or the application of such provision or amend- 3 ment to any person or circumstance is held to be unconsti- 4 tutional, the remainder of this Act, the amendments made 5 by this Act, and the application of such provision or 6 amendment to any person or circumstance shall not be af- 7 fected thereby. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Dec 04, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4933.IS S4933 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS