Presidential pardon process must be fixed

The presidential pardon process is broken.

It has been for some time, as some presidents exiting the White House when their terms are over grant a passel of exemptions to allies and supporters, often bypassing the less-connected who have pleaded their case for clemency.

President Trump is the latest to lard the list of the pardoned with allies and supporters.

Among them: Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared. The wealthy real estate executive was convicted in 2005 for tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

Former U.S. Rep Duncan Hunter and his wife Margaret. The California couple was convicted of conspiracy to misuse campaign funds. Rep. Hunter had pleaded guilty to using $150,000 from his campaign to pay for vacations, private school tuition and his daughter’s birthday party, according to the Associated Press.

Also on the list: Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, and friend Roger J. Stone Jr., both of whom declined to cooperate with prosecutors in the special counsel’s Russia investigation.

Trump is not the first to issue questionable pardons. President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother, Roger for his 1985 drug conviction, as well as Susan McDougal, a business partner of Bill and Hillary Clinton in the controversial Whitewater real estate deal. Business partner Marc Rich, indicted on charges of tax evasion and illegal trading with Iran who fled to Switzerland, also received a pardon. According to reports, his exwife Denise Eisenberg Rich had donated to the Democratic National Committee, the Clinton Presidential Library and Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate campaign, which raised suspicions about the president’s actions.

There is a check on presidential pardon abuse — the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. That agency fields applications for clemency as well as examines exemptions put forward by the president.

Clinton bypassed that process with about a third of his pardons, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The Pardon Attorney’s office has requirements that must be met in order for a pardon to be considered, and it fields, or is supposed to field, all requests.

According to the New York Times, many of Trump’s pardons don’t meet the agency’s requirements, raising concerns that Trump bypassed the Justice Department review as well.

There are enough inside deals and political favors poisoning the well in Washington — from party loyalists and campaign supporters being rewarded with top Cabinet posts to cronies throwing elbows to get a presidential pardon as those without connections languish while hoping for clemency.

Those on the pardon list of any president must meet Justice Department criteria — and the agency cannot be bypassed in this process.

When Clinton went on his pardon spree, vice dean at New York University’s School of Law and legal ethicist Stephen Gillers told the Chicago Tribune that “we’ve learned that it is a power that can be abused. A president who ignores Justice and the views of the victims and law enforcement simply encourages public distrust and cynicism.”

Rules requiring that the White House adhere to the pardon process set forth by the Justice Department should have been beefed up two decades ago.

If they aren’t now, we’ll doubtless have more end-of-term pardon fire sales from future presidents.