{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/slotkin-stevens-push-democrats-abolish-presidential-pardon-wlns", "Slotkin, Stevens Push Democrats to Abolish Presidential Pardon [WLNS]", "2025-11-19", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "House", "MI", "Haley M. Stevens", "S001215", "stevens.house.gov", "stevens", "https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 After voting to release the long-blocked Epstein Files, Congresswoman Haley Stevens joined Senator Elissa Slotkin\u2019s calls to \u201cpush Democrats to abolish [the] Presidential Pardon.\u201d With Trump considering pardons for Ghislaine Maxwell and others involved in Epstein\u2019s child sex trafficking ring, Congresswoman Haley Stevens also released a new video outlining why the abuse of power must end, and the presidential pardon must go.\n\nHere\u2019s what Michiganders are seeing and reading about Haley standing up to Donald Trump\u2019s abuses of power:\n\nWLNS: Slotkin, Stevens push Democrats to abolish presidential pardon\n\nBrad LaPlante\n\nNovember 19, 2025\n\nFor the last two months, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin has been leading an effort to curb President Donald Trump\u2019s use of executive power. During a town hall in August, the Democrat from Holly called it a \u201cquirk of history that does not make sense in America for either party any longer.\u201d She said lawmakers should revoke the power.\n\nU.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) joined Slotkin Tuesday in her calls to end the presidential pardon, criticizing Trump for weighing a decision to pardon Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s sex-trafficking co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, who is reportedly planning to seek a commutation of her federal prison sentence, according to the Independent.\n\nA judge sentenced Maxwell to 20 years in prison for enabling sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in the sexual exploitation of more than 250 underage girls.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s time to stop protecting Donald Trump and to start protecting survivors,\u201d Stevens posted to social media platform X on Tuesday. \u201cThe presidential pardon power has been used to reward political allies. Trump has done it again, and again, and again. And now he could even pardon a person who helped run a child sex trafficking ring with Jeffrey Epstein. That\u2019s unacceptable.\u201d\n\nIn a video posted to social media this week, Slotkin said the presidential pardon \u201cdoesn\u2019t make sense in the modern world.\u201d She said she doesn\u2019t support it for either political party.\n\n\u2026\n\nOn Nov. 9, Trump issued a pardon for 16 individuals accused of scheming to certify Michigan\u2019s electoral votes for Trump in the 2020 election. While charges against 15 of those individuals were dismissed in September, the 16th reached a cooperation agreement with the Michigan attorney general\u2019s office. His charges were dropped.\n\nTrump has also issued blanket pardons for those involved in the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He pardoned Ross William Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence in prison for running a website that acted as a marketplace to trade narcotics.\n\nIn Trump\u2019s first term, he pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was charged with crimes related to selling former President Barack Obama\u2019s vacated Senate seat, among other \u201cpay to play\u201d schemes. The Illinois House voted 114-1 to impeach him, and he was removed from office and prohibited from ever holding office in the state again by two separate unanimous votes in the Illinois Senate. Blagojevich was released from prison at least four years early in 2020 after Trump commuted his sentence. Otherwise, he wouldn\u2019t have been eligible for early release until at least March 2024.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stevens.house.gov/media/press-releases/slotkin-stevens-push-democrats-abolish-presidential-pardon-wlns"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7934118621051311, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}