Introductory Statement on S. 5212

On 2026-08-03, Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) delivered a floor speech titled "Introductory Statement On S. 5212" in the Senate.

Introductory Statement on S. 5212

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 126 (Monday, August 3, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 126 (Monday, August 3, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S4409-S4410] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Cortez Masto, Ms. Hirono, and Mr. Schiff): S. 5212. A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to reform executive clemency; to the Committee on the Judiciary. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, on the pardons bill, justice is supposed to be blind. Under Donald Trump, justice is for sale. Today, I am introducing legislation with Senators Blumenthal, Hirono, Cortez Masto, and Schiff to stop Trump from abusing his pardon power for personal gain. Our No Payoffs for Pardons Act will expose, deter, and prosecute corrupt pardons. Trump sees his pardon power as just another opportunity for grift, for graft, or personal profit. The only thing Trump cares about in granting clemency is how much money you have and where do your loyalties lie. Trump has wiped the slate clean for thousands of January 6 insurrectionists, Medicare fraudsters, white-collar criminals, and other crooks convicted of swindling the American people. The American people always pay the price for Trump's corruption, and pardons are no exception. Trump's pardons have wiped out nearly $2 billion in repayments owed to the victims of these crimes. It is the same old grift: Trump picks the pocket of law-abiding Americans to enrich criminals, his cronies, and himself. In Trump's America, if you have enough money or if you have the President's ear, then you are above the law. Our bill reaffirms that Federal bribery laws apply to the President and that trying to buy your way out of a prison cell is a crime itself. Our legislation would also require anyone who receives a pardon to disclose financial gifts they made in connection with their clemency. We need to bring these corrupt pardons out of the shadows and into the light so that we can stop them for once and for all. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 5212 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 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-- [[Page S4410]] ``(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 aft

Referenced legislation: S5212