After Trump, Democrats move to restrict president’s power over pardons, spending

Top-ranking congressional Democrats who battled with former President Donald Trump throughout his term introduced a bill this week that would curb executive power, calling it a check on practices that allowed the Trump administration to slow-roll investigations and reward political allies facing criminal charges.

The bill packages several proposals Democrats raised during Trump’s presidency, such as providing penalties for administration officials who ignore congressional subpoenas, reinforcing Congress’ power to set spending priorities and giving lawmakers more oversight over pardons.

It comes as the House continues to investigate what led to the breaching of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, which led to Trump’s second impeachment.

It also follows California’s recall election, which Gov. Gavin Newsom defeated in part by calling the campaign a Republican power grab and likening his opponents to Trump. Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey are running similar campaigns and the party could revisit the theme in next year’s congressional elections.

Rep. Adam Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman who led Trump’s first impeachment and is the bill’s lead sponsor, said the proposals are about more than holding Trump accountable.

“A great many of these reforms were made necessary by the conduct of the last president, but they are important for the conduct of any future president who would be that unscrupulous, whether it be the same president or a different one,” Schiff, D-Burbank, said in an interview with The Bee.

If the bill, the Protecting our Democracy Act, passes the House, at least 10 Senate Republicans would need to support it to overcome a filibuster and see a vote. Some components of the bill, a version of which was introduced last year, had Republican support during the Trump administration, including proposed tools to probe election interference.

“It had its resistance before. We think it will be successful now,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference.

Trump’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, likened the package to the reforms Congress passed after former President Richard Nixon’s resignation, including heightened reporting of campaign finance, transparency and congressional oversight.

“As it was in the aftermath of Watergate, it’s necessary for the Congress to enact new reforms to restore the system of checks and balances,” she said.

Here’s a look at what the bill would do:

Pardons

Trump offered clemency to several personal allies, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort; Roger Stone, a long-time adviser; and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Advisor. Those three Trump advisers came under scrutiny during Special Counsel Robert Mueller III’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

The bill calls for the attorney general to provide information to some congressional committees on clemency recipients who are connected to an investigation in Congress or clemency cases that affects the president or the president’s family. It clarifies that offering any form of clemency as a bribe is a crime, meaning the president could be penalized for it.

Prosecuting the president

Trump while in office faced personal and business lawsuits that effectively paused because the president and vice president cannot be indicted while in office. Trump was investigated for payments made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and sued by a journalist who alleged Trump raped her in the 1990s.

“This policy has turned the presidency into a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a press conference introducing the bill.

Nadler included legislation in the bill that would halt the statute of limitations during a president or vice president’s tenure on some crimes committed before or in office.

Congress’ subpoena power

The bill sets fines for people who do not comply with Congress’ subpoenas in most circumstances.

Several White House officials did not appear in Trump’s impeachment inquiry during his presidency, including his lawyer, Don McGahn. Kellyanne Conway, an adviser, ignored a 2019 subpoena to testify on whether she violated the Hatch Act.

The Hatch Act

Currently, the president is the only one who can discipline appointees for violations of the Hatch Act, which was devised to keep federal employees from using government resources in political campaigns. The bill would make that reviewed by a different entity.

The Office of Special Counsel recommended that Conway be removed from her office in 2019 because she was a “repeat offender” for publicly disparaging Democratic opponents. Trump did not remove her; she stepped down in the summer of 2020 due to family matters.

Trump also tested the 1939 law when he delivered a Republican National Convention speech for his reelection campaign from the White House. It was during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when health officials had advised against travel and in-person gatherings.

Keeping Congress in control of spending

Trump tested the federal government’s separation of powers in 2019 when he redirected $3.6 billion in funds Congress allocated for the Pentagon to instead fund construction of barriers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump declared a national emergency at the border to justify taking money from the Defense Department.

The Democrats bill puts time limits on declarations of national emergencies, enforces transparency on White House fiscal decisions and adds penalties for flouting rules set forth in acts that certify that Congress has the “power of the purse” under the Constitution.