Washington — Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said on Sunday that the whole presidential pardon process “crying out for reform” following some of President Biden’s controversial commutations and pardons, including when the president granted a general pardon to his own son, Hunter.
“This whole process cries out for reform, because otherwise you undermine the justice system,” Klobuchar said said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The White House announced early Thursday that President Biden would impose the sentence almost 1,500 peoplemarking the most far-reaching clemency granted by a president in a single day. The individuals, many of whom were placed under home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic, included some who have sparked controversy in recent days – including a judge involved in a so-called ‘Kids for Cash’ scheme.
Klobuchar interjected that she “didn’t like that one,” adding that she didn’t agree with all the pardons and commutations.
“I have no doubt that there were some just pardons in this group,” Klobuchar said. “But there were some that I don’t think make any sense at all.”
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She further said she disagreed Mr. Biden’s pardon for his son Hunterearlier this month.
Klobuchar noted that she also disagrees with a number of pardons granted by newly elected President Donald Trump during his first term. And the Minnesota Democrat said that while the option for pardons is part of the Constitution and has a long history that she said would not be changed, she would call for reforms.
“We should have some kind of external governance that governors have,” she said. “Governors have the ability to give people grace over the years, but a lot of them have boards that make recommendations and other things, rather than people just doing it in the middle of the night.”
Klobuchar suggested that a board could look at individual petitions over a yearlong period rather than large groups, which she said undermines the work of FBI agents and prosecutors who took on the cases.
“Maybe ten years later you need mercy?” Klobuchar said. ‘Yes, that could be possible. But let’s at least look at this on a factual and risk basis, rather than in the middle of the night a month before a president leaves office.”
