New York attorney general wants power to bypass Trump pardons
By Jonathan Stempel 11 hrs ago
© REUTERS/Brendan McDermid New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman speaks during a news conference to discuss the civil rights lawsuit filed against The Weinstein Companies and Harvey Weinstein in New York
New York's attorney general on Wednesday asked Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators to give him and other local prosecutors power to bring criminal charges against people pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.
In a letter, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urged Cuomo and legislative leaders to close a loophole in New York's double jeopardy law shielding recipients of presidential pardons from state prosecution.
A change could make it more difficult for Trump aides and others who might be pardoned to escape criminal prosecution, even if special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election were curbed or shut down.
The president has no constitutional power to pardon state crimes, but Schneiderman said the current law means defendants pardoned for serious federal crimes could be freed from "all accountability" under state criminal law. Schneiderman, a Democrat in his eighth year as attorney general, has made his office a central figure in blue state challenges to Trump, tangling with the Republican president on such matters as consumer finance, the environment, immigration and the 2020 census.
The White House had no immediate comment.
Cuomo, a Democrat, is reviewing Schneiderman's proposal, and "believes that the federal legal system should not provide a basis for any wrong doers to escape justice," press secretary Dani Lever said in a statement.
Democratic State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said "we will take a close look" at the "serious" issue, and State Senator Todd Kaminsky, also a Democrat, tweeted a plan to introduce a bill closing the loophole.
It is unclear if a revised law can make it through the state senate, which is closely divided between Republicans and Democrats. The office of Republican Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Double jeopardy laws prevent people from being tried twice for the same crime. "By closing New York's double jeopardy loophole, lawmakers can ensure that no one accused of breaking New York's laws will escape accountability merely because of a strategically-timed presidential pardon," Schneiderman said in a statement.
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Poster Comment:
The Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution (Article VI, Clause 2) says different.