Abuse of Power

Americans expect and deserve a strong democracy, but we can never take the health of our democratic system for granted. The For the People Act (H.R. 1) brings to bear transformative reforms that will help safeguard our democracy which has been increasingly under attack by enemies both foreign and domestic. It has become clear that we must shore up the defenses of our democracy by expanding access to the franchise, empowering the voices of everyday Americans in our elections, and upholding strong ethical standards in government. H.R. 1 contains reforms that address all three pillars. Many of the solutions in H.R. 1 have worked successfully at the state and local level for years.

“There’s no question there is grounds for an investigation at the federal level and at the state level,” said Stephen Spaulding, special counsel for public policy at the nonpartisan nonprofit Common Cause. “The question is we’ve got this one tape, but how many other people received this call?” Spaulding said. “How many state legislatures received this call? What other secretaries of states, election officials received this call? Who else in the White House was involved?”

“Republican lawmakers in a variety of states are using the president's lies as justification for making voting harder and suppressing the vote,” Sylvia Albert, the director of voting and elections at the nonpartisan voting rights group Common Cause, told ABC News. “Obviously we saw record turnout everywhere and part of that was because access to the ballot was expanded. And obviously nothing is perfect. We would want improvements and improvements should be made, with consultation with election officials and election security experts and advocates in the community, but that's not what we're seeing. What we're seeing is legislatures adopting the president's lies about there being problems with the election,” Albert added, referring to unsubstantiated claims about voting machines changing votes, fraudulent signature matching processes and other baseless claims promoted by the president.

“You’ve got election officials all over the country and national security officials saying that it was a clean election and the effort to have an unnecessary investigation is just one to kowtow to the base and the president,” said David Vance, a spokesman for the watchdog group Common Cause.

The American people expect and deserve a President who puts the well-being of the nation before his personal interests. With tonight’s pardons, Donald Trump has hit a new low. It’s clear he’ll do anything to advance a cover up.   

Americans expect and deserve a President who respects the rule of law, not one who abuses his power to undermine lawful convictions and attempts to whitewash his own corrupt presidency. With tonight’s pardons and commutations, President Trump has once again gravely abused the power of the presidency. Instead of granting pardons as an act of clemency for those who regret their crimes, he is engaged in an effort to hide his own malfeasance by undermining the Russia probe and other political corruption issues. This is a reprehensible abuse of the pardon power, and Congress should immediately investigate. It is also clear that Congress must address abuses of the pardon power and hold President Trump and any future Presidents who abuse the power of the pardon accountable. We urge swift passage of the Protecting Our Democracy Act and other reforms to reinforce that the President is not above the law.