WASHINGTON, June 15 - Two Democratic members of Congress pressed the Trump administration on Monday to retain communications and related records connected to a set of presidential clemency actions, including pardons and commutations granted to individuals such as an electric-vehicle entrepreneur convicted of defrauding investors.
Senator Peter Welch, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from Vermont, and Congressman Dave Min, who serves on the House Oversight Committee and represents California, sent letters to the White House, the Department of Justice and the U.S. Secret Service asking that all records be preserved for 17 named clemency recipients. The lawmakers said the preservation request is necessary to determine whether "improper considerations, including quid pro quo or 'pay-to-play' dynamics, may have affected the clemency process."
The lawmakers said in their correspondence that they had reviewed media coverage while looking into the administration's clemency decisions. Among the 17 individuals identified in the letters is Trevor Milton, a businessman whose conviction related to an electric-vehicle start-up that prosecutors say promoted cars that never became operational.
Last week, an investigative report found that a large share of clemency actions during the current administration did not conform to longstanding Justice Department guidelines for pardons. The correspondence from Welch and Min cites that reporting and raises questions about whether traditional review channels at the Justice Department were circumvented or inconsistently applied.
Officials tied to one clemency recipient responded to earlier queries in different contexts. A spokesperson for Trevor Milton criticized his conviction and described it as politically motivated by prosecutors during the administration of President Joe Biden. That spokesperson did not answer a question from the lawmakers' offices about the preservation letters.
A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, replied to the lawmakers' letters in a statement by email, calling the requests "nothing more than a sad messaging attempt, coordinated between Democrats and their media allies." The Department of Justice and the Secret Service did not provide comment in response to requests regarding the letters from Welch and Min.
The lawmakers' request follows reports that some individuals seeking clemency used in-person visits with the president and routed pardon requests through the Secret Service rather than following traditional channels at the Justice Department. Both the White House and the Justice Department have denied any wrongdoing related to the president's clemency actions.
In defending the practice, the administration has described the president's constitutional power to pardon as "absolute" and said the process under this administration includes thorough and coordinated vetting by appropriate officials. In their letters, the lawmakers directly questioned those assertions, noting that while the president's pardon authority is broad, "Congress retains a legitimate legislative interest when credible questions arise regarding process, access, or abuse of power."
"This reporting," the lawmakers wrote, "raises serious questions about whether traditional review channels were circumvented and whether established review procedures were followed, bypassed, sidelined, or inconsistently applied."
The preservation request is intended to allow oversight inquiries to determine whether informal networks of advocates and influencers played an outsized role in certain clemency decisions and whether established procedures were adhered to consistently across cases. The lawmakers asked that all relevant communications and documents involving the 17 named clemency recipients be retained so that any subsequent review would have access to potentially pertinent records.
Key details:
- The request was sent to the White House, Department of Justice and U.S. Secret Service.
- Seventeen clemency recipients were identified for record preservation, including Trevor Milton.
- Lawmakers cited media reporting that raised concerns about deviations from Justice Department review procedures and the use of informal networks to seek clemency.