HouseH.R. 10032119th Congress
No Payoffs for Pardons Act
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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10032 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10032
To amend title 18, United States Code, to reform executive clemency.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 3, 2026
Mr. Morelle introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to reform executive clemency.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``No Payoffs for Pardons Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Constitution of the United States grants the
President broad authority to issue reprieves and pardons for
offenses against the United States. This power is meant to
serve the interests of justice and offer a pathway to remedy
unfair outcomes within the criminal legal system.
(2) The breadth of the pardon power demands it be used
judiciously. At times, Presidents have made questionable
clemency decisions throughout American history, creating
legitimate concerns about potential misuse across the political
spectrum.
(3) Alarmingly, President Donald Trump has gone further
than any of his predecessors and fundamentally transformed the
Presidential pardon from an instrument of mercy into a currency
for insiders, repeatedly using clemency to reward political
donors, loyalists, cronies, and individuals with direct access
to him, while ordinary petitioners languish for years in the
Department of Justice process.
(4) In his current term, President Trump has granted only a
tiny handful of pardons and commutations to the roughly 10,000
people who followed the formal Department of Justice review
process in 2026, while showering clemency on high-profile
allies, business associates, and well-connected offenders whose
chief qualification was deep pockets or proximity to the
President, not the merits of their cases.
(5) President Trump has exploited clemency to erase the
crimes and consequences of some of the most notorious white-
collar offenders in United States history, including the
longest-sentenced Medicare fraudster in the country. All told,
President Trump's pardons have wiped out nearly $2,000,000,000
in victim repayments and taxpayer recovery.
(6) President Trump has used the pardon power to undercut
ongoing law enforcement investigations, including commuting the
sentence of a predatory lender whose cooperation Federal
prosecutors were actively seeking, instantly stripping
prosecutors of leverage and signaling that well-connected
criminals can buy or lobby their way out of accountability.
(7) President Trump has leveraged clemency for convicted
narcotraffickers and enablers of the international drug trade,
such as the former Honduran President who turned his government
into a cocaine pipeline to the United States and the creator of
the Silk Road dark web drug market, even while demanding the
death penalty for traffickers and campaigning on a promise to
wage ``war'' on cartels.
(8) On the first day of his second term, President Donald
Trump issued a sweeping clemency proclamation granting blanket
pardons and commutations to nearly all offenders charged or
convicted for crimes arising from the January 6, 2021, attack
on the United States Capitol, instantly wiping away the
criminal records and prison time of roughly 1,600 rioters who
assaulted law enforcement and violently disrupted the peaceful
transfer of power.
(9) President Trump's Department of Justice is now actively
seeking to vacate and dismiss the seditious conspiracy
convictions of multiple top Proud Boys and Oath Keepers
leaders, including Stewart Rhodes and other organizers who
helped plan and direct the assault, moving to erase the last
remaining jury verdicts against the extremist ringleaders of
the insurrection and to nullify years of painstaking
prosecutions by career Federal law enforcement.
(10) President Trump's pattern of clemency for wealthy
benefactors, the politically connected, and corrupt officials
paired with his deliberate neglect of ordinary, meritorious
petitioners, has weaponized the pardon power against the rule
of law, turning a constitutional safety valve into a commodity
to be purchased or bartered for through political allegiance.
(11) Although the Supreme Court of the United States
erroneously held in Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593
(2024), that the President has absolute immunity for the
exercise of core constitutional powers, that immunity only
attaches to the President and does not extend to private
individuals who corruptly offer things of value to obtain
clemency, or act as intermediaries in such corrupt
arrangements. Congress has authority and responsibility to
address corruption by clemency seekers and intermediaries, even
if the conduct of the President may be beyond the reach of
Federal criminal prosecution.
SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR PARDON RECIPIENTS.
(a) In General.--Chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 227A. Financial disclosure reports by recipients of executive
clemency
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Clemency recipient.--The term `clemency recipient'
means any individual who has received a pardon, commutation of
sentence, reprieve, or any other form of executive clemency
pursuant to section 2 of article II of the Constitution of the
United States.
``(2) Covered benefit.--The term `covered benefit' means
anything of value, including any contribution, donation, gift,
service, payment, transfer, contract, investment, goods, or
other benefit, whether direct or indirect, provided by the
clemency recipient, at the direction of the clemency recipient,
or on behalf of the clemency recipient, with an aggregate value
at any point during any 12-month period during the disclosure
period of not less than $10,000, as adjusted for inflation
pursuant to subsection (f).
``(3) Covered recipient.--The term `covered recipient'--
``(A) means--
``(i) the President or an immediate family
member of the President;
``(ii) any entity directly or indirectly
established, financed, maintained, or
controlled by, or operating with the explicit
or implicit purpose of advancing a financial,
political, electoral, or reputational benefit
of, the President or an immediate family member
of the President, including any commercial
entity, any presidential library or foundation,
any organization exempt from taxation under
section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, any Inaugural Committee, as defined in
section 501 of title 36, any authorized
committee, as defined in section 301 of the
Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52
U.S.C. 30101), and any political committee
(including an independent expenditure-only
committee), as defined in that section;
``(iii) any entity in which the clemency
recipient knows, or reasonably should know,
that the President or an immediate family
member of the President holds a direct or
indirect financial interest, including any
ownership interest, partnership interest, or
interest through a trust, limited liability
company, or other intermediary; or
``(iv) any person who receives a covered
benefit for the purpose of seeking or
advocating for executive clemency for the
clemency recipient; and
``(B) does not include any class of securities
registered under section 12 of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78l) if--
``(i) the President and no immediate family
member of the President serve as a director or
officer of the issuer; or
``(ii) the President and all immediate
family members of the President are not, in the
aggregate, beneficial owners of more than 10
percent of such class of securities within the
meaning of section 16(a) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78p(a)).
``(4) Disclosure period.--The term `disclosure period'
means the period beginning on the date that is 1 year before
the date on which the President who granted the executive
clemency was first sworn into office and ending on the last day
of the fourth calendar year after the calendar year during
which the clemency recipient received the executive clemency.
``(5) Immediate family member.--The term `immediate family
member' means, with respect to an individual, the spouse,
child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, or sibling.
``(6) Willfully.--The term `willfully'--
``(A) means intentionally undertaking an act that
one knows to be wrongful; and
``(B) does not require that the actor know
specifically that the conduct was unlawful.
``(b) Disclosure Requirement.--
``(1) Pre-clemency disclosure.--Not later than 90 days
after receiving executive clemency for an offense against the
United States, each clemency recipient that has provided a
covered benefit to a covered recipient during the disclosure
period shall file with the Attorney General a disclosure report
identifying each covered benefit provided to any covered
recipient during the disclosure period.
``(2) Annual post-clemency disclosure.--For each of the 4
calendar years following the calendar year in which executive
clemency was granted, a clemency recipient who has provided a
covered benefit to a covered recipient during the disclosure
period shall file with the Attorney General an annual
disclosure report identifying each covered benefit provided to
any covered recipient during that calendar year.
``(3) Content of disclosure.--Each disclosure report
required under this subsection shall include--
``(A) the identity of the covered recipient;
``(B) a description of the covered benefit,
including its form, nature, and purpose;
``(C) the approximate date or dates on which the
covered benefit was provided; and
``(D) the value of the covered benefit, or, where
the exact value cannot reasonably be ascertained, a
good-faith estimate of such value with an explanation
of the basis for the estimate.
``(c) Exception for Bona Fide Legal Services.--
``(1) In general.--This section shall not apply to payments
made exclusively for bona fide legal services rendered in
connection with representation before a court of law.
``(2) Allocation.--
``(A) In general.--If a payment is made in part for
legal services described in paragraph (1) and in part
for lobbying, advocacy, advice, or other services
related to seeking or obtaining executive clemency,
only the portion of such payment reasonably
attributable to clemency-related services shall be
subject to disclosure under this section.
``(B) Good faith.--The clemency recipient shall--
``(i) make the allocation required under
subparagraph (A) in good faith; and
``(ii) shall document the basis for the
allocation in the disclosure report filed
pursuant to subsection (b).
``(d) Publication by the Attorney General.--
``(1) In general.--The Attorney General shall make all
disclosure reports filed under this section publicly available
on a searchable, machine-readable website maintained by the
Department of Justice not later than 30 days after the filing
deadline applicable to each report. If a disclosure report is
received after the filing deadline, the Attorney General shall
make the report available as soon as practicable, but not later
than 30 days after the date on which the report is received.
``(2) Forms and procedures.--
``(A) In general.--The Attorney General shall
prescribe forms and procedures for the filing of
disclosure reports under this section and may
promulgate regulations as the Attorney General
determines are necessary to carry out the purposes of
this section.
``(B) Contents.--The procedures described in
subparagraph (A) shall include a process by which the
Attorney General regularly contacts clemency
recipients, through as many methods of communication as
possible, to notify them of their obligations to file
disclosure reports.
``(3) Online submission.--Not later than 90 days after the
date of enactment of this section, the Attorney General shall
establish an online portal through which clemency recipients
shall submit the disclosure reports required under subsection
(b).
``(e) Enforcement.--
``(1) Civil penalty.--Any clemency recipient who knowingly
fails to file a required disclosure report, files a materially
false or incomplete report, or otherwise violates this section
shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000
per violation, as adjusted for inflation pursuant to subsection
(f).
``(2) Criminal penalty.--Any clemency recipient who
willfully fails to file a required disclosure report or who
willfully files a materially false disclosure report shall be
fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years,
or both.
``(3) Investigations.--The Attorney General shall have
authority to investigate potential violations of this section
and to bring civil or criminal enforcement actions in any
appropriate court.
``(f) Inflation Adjustment.--Not less frequently than once every 5
years, the Attorney General shall adjust the dollar threshold
established in subsection (a)(2), and the civil penalty established in
subsection (e)(1), based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban
Consumers (CPI-U): U.S. city average, all items, published monthly by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rounded to the nearest $500.
``(g) Statute of Limitations.--No civil or criminal action may be
brought under this section more than 10 years after the date on which
the violation occurred.
``(h) Severability.--If any provision of this section, or the
application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid,
the remainder of the section, and the application of such provision to
other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.''.
(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for
chapter 11 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the
end the following:
``227A. Financial disclosure reports by recipients of executive
clemency.''.
SEC. 4. UPDATING THE FEDERAL BRIBERY STATUTE.
(a) In General.--Section 201 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``, including
the President and the Vice President of the United
States,'' after ``or an officer or employee or
person'';
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``means any person'' and
inserting the following: ``means--
``(A) any person'';
(ii) by striking ``and'' at the end; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) any candidate, as defined in section 301 of
the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C.
30101), with respect to any official act the candidate
would have authority to perform upon taking office;'';
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the
end and inserting ``, including any pardon,
commutation, reprieve, or other form of executive
clemency pursuant to section 2 of article II of the
Constitution of the United States; and''; and
(D) by adding at the end the following:
``(4) the term `anything of value' includes any pardon,
commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution,
reprieve, or other form of executive clemency pursuant to
section 2 of article II of the Constitution of the United
States.''.
(b) Limitations.--Section 3282 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(c) Extended Limitations Period for Bribery Offenses Involving
Executive Clemency.--Notwithstanding subsection (a), no person shall be
prosecuted, tried, or punished for any offense under section 201 of
this title arising from or related to the granting, denying,
withholding, promising, or offering of any pardon, commutation,
remission, or reprieve pursuant to section 2 of article II of the
Constitution of the United States, unless the indictment is found or
the information is instituted within 10 years after the offense was
committed.''.
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