A bill blocking President Donald Trump's ability to pardon targets of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to protect the investigation, Congressman Adam Schiff announced in a press release on Thursday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2019) A bill blocking President Donald Trump's ability to pardon targets of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to protect the investigation, Congressman Adam Schiff announced in a press release on Thursday."The President has a broad power to confer pardons, but not when they are designed to insulate himself, his family and his associates from criminal investigation," Schiff stated. "Such an abuse of the pardon power would amount to obstruction of justice and is not countenanced by the constitution."
The US Constitution gives the president the power to grant reprieves or pardons for "offenses against the United States" except in cases were a president is impeached.
Schiff cited unsettling indications that Trump could use his pardon power granted to undermine the Special Counsel's probe of purported Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump frequently calls the Muller investigation a political witch hunt that has not produced evidence in two years.
Russia has repeatedly denied any attempt to influence the US election's outcome, saying the allegations about interference were made up to excuse the defeat of a presidential candidate as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
