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Can Congress investigate Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence?

Moon

Moon

Why so serious?
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Trump on Friday commuted Stone's sentence, sparing him from having to report to a federal prison in Georgia to begin serving 40 months behind bars. In November Stone was convicted of lying to Congress during the investigation into Russian election meddling.But can Congress investigate a president’s grant of clemency?

As recently as last week, in its decision in the Trump congressional subpoena case, the Supreme Court said Congress’ power to investigate is tied to its power to make laws. It can demand information only if “it is related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress," and its investigations must serve a “valid legislative purpose".
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Can Congress investigate Trump'''s commutation of Roger Stone'''s sentence?

I agree with Mr. Williams' assessment, and thought the same thing when I read reports that the House was planning to investigate. If they seriously want to curtail this particular presidential power, then they will have to start working on an amendment to the constitution. Congressional oversight is an important function of government, but it's not an unlimited power.
 
They sure can't.
 
even if they did find a corrupt motive, or even evidence of an arrangement of a fall guy keeping his mouth shut, in exchange for relief of actually serving prison time.. it's not like the Republican Party would care.
 
There is one, clearly Constitutional, way which I can think of: assert that The House committee investgation may lead to impeachment, which is a designated Constitutional power exclusive to The House.
 
Moon said:
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Can Congress investigate Trump'''s commutation of Roger Stone'''s sentence?

I agree with Mr. Williams' assessment, and thought the same thing when I read reports that the House was planning to investigate. If they seriously want to curtail this particular presidential power, then they will have to start working on an amendment to the constitution. Congressional oversight is an important function of government, but it's not an unlimited power.
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Can they? Sure. They seem to be able to investigate anything they want.
 
It's the most corrupt administration in US history.
 
Helix said:
It's the most corrupt administration in US history.
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and what's worse are the lies.

Now the CDC and all their own doctors are being falsely accused of lying.

Trump is costing thousands of Americans their lives.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
There is one, clearly Constitutional, way which I can think of: assert that The House committee investgation may lead to impeachment, which is a designated Constitutional power exclusive to The House.
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But that has to do with wrongdoing by the President, and isn't related to Congress's law making responsibilities.
 
Moon said:
But that has to do with wrongdoing by the President, and isn't related to Congress's law making responsibilities.
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It would then be clearly related to an explicitly stated Constitutional power of congress - hard for the SCOTUS (or any judge) to argue with that.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
It would then be clearly related to an explicitly stated Constitutional power of congress - hard for the SCOTUS (or any judge) to argue with that.
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So the Congressional power of impeachment trumps (no pun intended) the Presidential power of pardons and commutations? Or are you thinking more broadly than the specific topic?
 
The Stone prosecution, like the Flynn one, was 100% political. This was plainly evident in the way that a clearly Trump hating, biased juror was left as jury foreman as well as the silly SWAT raid tipped off to CNN. Flynn was sandbagged by the FBI and the unethical actions and obvious bias of the judge in the case also shows its clear political and ideological nature. Trump would have had legitimate reason to pardon both men.
 
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Moon said:
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Can Congress investigate Trump'''s commutation of Roger Stone'''s sentence?

I agree with Mr. Williams' assessment, and thought the same thing when I read reports that the House was planning to investigate. If they seriously want to curtail this particular presidential power, then they will have to start working on an amendment to the constitution. Congressional oversight is an important function of government, but it's not an unlimited power.
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Trump commuted Roger Stone's sentence in exchange for Stone's help obstructing the Russia investigation.
That may be not just illegal but outright unconstitutional:

The Traditional Interpretation of the Pardon Power Is Wrong - The Atlantic
 
Moon said:
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Can Congress investigate Trump'''s commutation of Roger Stone'''s sentence?

I agree with Mr. Williams' assessment, and thought the same thing when I read reports that the House was planning to investigate. If they seriously want to curtail this particular presidential power, then they will have to start working on an amendment to the constitution. Congressional oversight is an important function of government, but it's not an unlimited power.
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He should be impeached for it: obstruction of justice.
 
Moon said:
So the Congressional power of impeachment trumps (no pun intended) the Presidential power of pardons and commutations? Or are you thinking more broadly than the specific topic?
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If the allegation being "investigated" was that Trump offered the clemency/pardon for Stone remaining silent about Trump's wrongdoing then that would be an impeachable offense. Of course, that does not mean that the Senate would vote to remove/convict, but it would allow for the congressional "witch hunt" to get loads of MSM attention.
 
veritas1 said:
The Stone prosecution, like the Flynn one, was 100% political. This was plainly evident in the way that a clearly Trump hating, biased juror was left as jury foreman as well as the silly SWAT raid tipped off to CNN. Flynn was sandbagged by the FBI and the unethical actions and obvious bias of the judge in the case also shows its clear political and ideological nature. Trump would have had legitimate reason to pardon both men.
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The jury has spoken. You are free to disagree with it, and Mr. Stone was free to appeal. Trump was simply in a hurry to pardon him before Stone started spilling his guts.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
If the allegation being "investigated" was that Trump offered the clemency/pardon for Stone remaining silent about Trump's wrongdoing then that would be an impeachable offense. Of course, that does not mean that the Senate would vote to remove/convict, but it would allow for the congressional "witch hunt" to get loads of MSM attention.
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It would give the Senate one more chance to help dig us out of this hellhole Trump has delivered to us.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
If the allegation being "investigated" was that Trump offered the clemency/pardon for Stone remaining silent about Trump's wrongdoing then that would be an impeachable offense. Of course, that does not mean that the Senate would vote to remove/convict, but it would allow for the congressional "witch hunt" to get loads of MSM attention.
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I haven't read anywhere that the commutation is being considered impeachable. Pelosi has said she'll introduce legislation to limit the President's power, but I don't think Congress has the power to do that.
 
j brown's body said:
The jury has spoken. You are free to disagree with it, and Mr. Stone was free to appeal. Trump was simply in a hurry to pardon him before Stone started spilling his guts.
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That makes no sense, of course. Why would Stone spill anything at this point, even if he had it? Also, the idea that Stone has some secret knowledge that Mueller and 3+ years of endless Democrat investigations didn't find, is fanciful nonsense.
 
noonereal said:
and what's worse are the lies.

Now the CDC and all their own doctors are being falsely accused of lying.

Trump is costing thousands of Americans their lives.
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Punkinhead has certainly done damage.
 
j brown's body said:
The jury has spoken. You are free to disagree with it, and Mr. Stone was free to appeal. Trump was simply in a hurry to pardon him before Stone started spilling his guts.
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He wasn't pardoned. The conviction still stands.
 
j brown's body said:
It would give the Senate one more chance to help dig us out of this hellhole Trump has delivered to us.
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It would be pointless (except for the friendly media coverage) for The House to try to start another impeachment process weeks before the POTUS election, but it would likely be deemed Constitutional.
 
Moon said:
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Can Congress investigate Trump'''s commutation of Roger Stone'''s sentence?

I agree with Mr. Williams' assessment, and thought the same thing when I read reports that the House was planning to investigate. If they seriously want to curtail this particular presidential power, then they will have to start working on an amendment to the constitution. Congressional oversight is an important function of government, but it's not an unlimited power.
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Generally speaking, congress gets to decide what a "legitimate legislative purpose" is so they can absolutely investigate Trump and they can even impeach him again. It won't get through the Senate, again, so it makes no difference but if they figure that using congress for the express purpose of campaigning against the President is legitimate then let them go for it. They have damned near burned the Constitution to the ground so why not let them finish the job and get the party started.
 
Lutherf said:
You mean the most corrupt congress, right?
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Moscow McTurtle has his work cut out for him, but he's keeping up pretty well with the Impeachypeach.
 
Moon said:
So the Congressional power of impeachment trumps (no pun intended) the Presidential power of pardons and commutations? Or are you thinking more broadly than the specific topic?
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That's what the Democrats want. They are seeking effective Parliamentary preeminence over the Executive.

The way the democrats envision American political power is that if they can nullify Executive authority then they can overrule anything a Republican president does and push through anything that one of their guys does. It preserves the illusion of being a Constitutional Republic while not having any of those protections. The Democrats seek PARTY power while it's up to the Republicans to preserve PEOPLE power.
 
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