FLASHBACK: Adam Schiff demanded transparency for presidential pardons that may be used to 'obstruct justice'

In an April 2018 interview with CNN, then-Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) argued that legislation was needed to ensure Congress could monitor if a presidential pardon involving those close to the president, because, he said, that they may “obstruct justice.”

Joe Biden provided a presidential pardon to his son Hunter Biden on Sunday, after repeatedly saying he would not do so. Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s chief counsel, was looking for a full pardon in the days leading up to Joe Biden’s reversal over the weekend and the clip of Schiff has caught traction online since the Biden's pardon of Hunter. 

In 2018, Schiff argued that more Congressional oversight was needed for presidential pardons involving the president or the president’s family and said legislation was required for them. He posted on then-Twitter at the time with a segment from CNN, “If the President issues a pardon in a case in which he or his family are implicated, the American people need to know whether it is part of an attempt to obstruct justice. This bill would make that possible and serve as a powerful deterrent.”

He told Don Lemon in the segment, “What it would do is say that in the event the president pardons anyone in an investigation in which the president is a witness, a subject or the target, those investigative files will all be turned over to the Congress. The Congress ought to know whether the president is using the pardon power to obstruct justice.”

“The American people have a right to know. I think it is clearly Constitutional. It doesn't prohibit him from granting a pardon, even a pardon he shouldn't grant, but it does say that we will be able to at least find out whether the president is using this power to shield himself from liability; it offers transparency, at the very least.”

Schiff made the comments after Trump had pardoned Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, who was indicted on charges of revealing the identity of a CIA agent. Schiff introduced the Abuse of the Pardon Prevention Act in March 2019. It was never brought to a vote.