Pelosi Calls on Law to Limit Presidential Pardon Power

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said when President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his ally Roger Stone, it was "appalling."

Now she wants a law passed to prevent the president from using his constitutional powers in the future to pardon anyone who is politically connected to him.

"For the president to be able to issue a pardon on the basis of a crime that the person committed assisting the president is ridiculous, and there ought to be a law," Pelosi told CNN host Anderson Cooper, according to the Washington Examiner. "And I'm recommending that we pass a law that presidents cannot issue a pardon if the crime that the person is in jail for is one that is caused by protecting the president, which this was.

"It's appalling."

Article II of the Constitution gives the president the power to pardon. 

"He shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment," the Constitution reads.

But Trump did not pardon Stone, which would have erased his criminal record. He simply commuted his three-year sentence, leaving the conviction on his record.

"Roger Stone's seven felony crimes, which include lying to Congress and witness tampering, constitute grave crimes," Pelosi said in a statement. "This decision and Trump's many other acts of corruption point to the urgency of electing a president in November who will respect the Constitution, the rule of law, and the will of the American people."

Stone was ordered to report to prison next Tuesday. He made an emergency appeal to extend his surrender data due to the coronavirus threat in prison but an appeals court rejected that request Friday.

Stone "would be put at serious medical risk" if sent to prison, according to a White House statement.

• Trump Commutes Prison Sentence of Ally Roger Stone
• WH Press Office Statement on Commutation of Stone Sentence