Amnesties, Commutations and Pardons

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      In Trump’s Pardons, Disdain for Accountability

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      Election Results: Biden Wins

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      Congress Defies Mob

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      Trump Grants Clemency to Stephen Bannon and Other Allies

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential InaugurationliveWatchHighlightsScenes from the CapitalScheduleQuestions, AnsweredAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWith Hours Left in Office, Trump Grants Clemency to Bannon and Other AlliesThe president continued using his power to help his supporters, including his former chief strategist and one of his top 2016 fund-raisers.Stephen K. Bannon in 2017 at the White House. He was under indictment on charges that he misused money he helped raise for a group backing President Trump’s border wall.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York TimesMaggie Haberman, Kenneth P. Vogel, Eric Lipton and Jan. 20, 2021Updated 2:15 a.m. ETWASHINGTON — President Trump used his final hours in office to wipe away convictions and prison sentences for a roster of corrupt politicians and business executives and bestow pardons on allies like Stephen K. Bannon, his former chief strategist, and Elliott Broidy, one of his top fund-raisers in 2016.The wave of clemency grants, hours before Mr. Trump’s departure from the White House, underscored how many of his close associates and supporters became ensnared in corruption cases and other legal troubles, and highlighted again his willingness to use his power to help them and others with connections to him.His decision to grant clemency to a raft of elected officials and business executives caught up in high-profile corruption cases also represented a final lashing out by Mr. Trump at a criminal justice system that he had come to view as unfairly hounding him and his allies. It came as the Senate prepared for his second impeachment trial, on a charge of inciting the deadly riot at the Capitol this month, and could be another factor in influencing whether Republicans join Democrats in voting to convict him.Mr. Trump retains the power to issue further pardons — including theoretically for himself and members of his family — until noon Wednesday, when his four-year tenure comes to an end. But officials said they did not anticipate him doing so.The latest round of pardons and commutations — 143 in total — followed dozens last month, when Mr. Trump pardoned associates like Paul Manafort and Roger J. Stone Jr., and four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians.Mr. Bannon was under indictment on charges that he misused money he helped raise for a group backing Mr. Trump’s border wall, but had not yet gone to trial. Mr. Broidy pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws as part of a covert campaign to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.Rick Renzi in 2007. Mr. Renzi, a Republican and former member of the House, was sentenced in 2013 to three years in prison in connection with a bribery scheme involving an Arizona land swap deal.Credit…Pool photo by Sabah ArarAmong others receiving pardons from Mr. Trump were three prominent Republicans who had served in the House before their convictions. They were Rick Renzi, who was sentenced in 2013 to three years in jail in association with a bribery scheme involving an Arizona land swap deal; Robert Hayes of North Carolina, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to lying to the F.B.I.; and Randall “Duke” Cunningham of California, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors.Mr. Trump commuted the sentence of Kwame M. Kilpatrick, a Democrat and former Detroit mayor who was convicted in 2013 for using his office to enrich himself and his family through shakedowns, kickbacks and bid-rigging schemes.And Mr. Trump commuted the sentence of William T. Walters, a wealthy sports gambler. A jury convicted Mr. Walters in 2017 on charges related to his role in an insider-trading scheme, and he was sentenced to five years in prison.Mr. Walters hired Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer John M. Dowd in 2018, after he stopped representing Mr. Trump, The New York Times reported this week. Mr. Dowd bragged to Mr. Walters and others that he could help them receive a pardon because of his close relationship with the president.Mr. Dowd had also said that Mr. Trump would look favorably upon those who had been investigated by federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, an office that the president has long viewed as hostile to him and that has been involved in other investigations touching on him and his allies, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Walters has paid Mr. Dowd tens of thousands of dollars to represent him, the people said.The pardon of Mr. Bannon was particularly notable because he had been charged with a crime but had yet to stand trial. An overwhelming majority of pardons and commutations granted by presidents have been for those convicted and sentenced.The White House had planned to release the list of those granted clemency earlier in the day, but the debate over Mr. Bannon, who encouraged Mr. Trump publicly to fight the certification of the 2020 election, was part of the delay, officials said.By late afternoon Tuesday, advisers believed they had kept a pardon for Mr. Bannon from happening. But by about 9 p.m., Mr. Trump had changed his mind and Mr. Bannon was added to the list.Mr. Trump and Mr. Bannon spoke by phone during the day as the president was weighing the pardon, as Mr. Bannon’s allies tried to apply pressure to make it happen and his detractors pushed the president not to go ahead with it.Among other things, Mr. Bannon has been a frequent antagonist of the Republican leader in the Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has blamed Mr. Trump for stoking the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Mr. McConnell has left open the possibility of voting to convict Mr. Trump in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.Mr. Bannon in August leaving Federal District Court in Manhattan after his arrest and arraignment on fraud charges.Credit…Jefferson Siegel for The New York TimesMr. Trump’s decision to grant Mr. Bannon a pardon is the latest twist in a complicated relationship between the two men that started during the 2016 presidential campaign, fell apart during Mr. Bannon’s time as the White House’s chief strategist and was resurrected in recent months as Mr. Bannon encouraged Mr. Trump’s bid for a second term and the efforts to overturn the election.Mr. Bannon was indicted and arrested in August by federal prosecutors in Manhattan on charges related to the money raised to promote the construction of the border wall long sought by Mr. Trump.The group said that it planned to use the funds to build portions of the wall that Mr. Trump had been blocked from using federal funding on. Conservative activists, like Mr. Trump’s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., appeared at an event for the group, which ultimately brought in $25 million in donations. Mr. Bannon used $1 million for his own personal expenses, according to the prosecutors.The Presidential Inauguration More

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      With Trump Presidency Winding Down, Push for Assange Pardon Ramps Up

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionLatest UpdatesHouse Moves to Remove TrumpHow Impeachment Might WorkBiden Focuses on CrisesCabinet PicksAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWith Trump Presidency Winding Down, Push for Assange Pardon Ramps UpSupporters of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have enlisted a lobbyist with connections to the president and filed a clemency petition with the White House.The effort comes at a delicate moment for Julian Assange; the Justice Department announced last week that it would appeal a British judge’s ruling blocking his extradition to the United States.Credit…Henry Nicholls/ReutersJan. 10, 2021, 6:53 p.m. ETWASHINGTON — Allies of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have ramped up a push for a last-minute pardon from President Trump, enlisting a lobbyist with connections to the administration, trying to rally supporters across the political spectrum and filing a clemency petition with the White House.The effort comes at a delicate moment for Mr. Assange and during a period of tension between the United States and Britain over a case that his supporters say has substantial implications for press freedoms.The Justice Department announced last week that it would appeal a British judge’s ruling blocking the extradition of Mr. Assange to the United States to face trial on charges of violating the Espionage Act and conspiring to hack government computers. The charges stemmed from WikiLeaks’s publication in 2010 of classified documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.Mr. Assange’s supporters had been optimistic about the prospects of a pardon from Mr. Trump, who has issued dozens of contentious clemency grants since losing his re-election bid. But they now worry that pressure over his supporters’ ransacking of the Capitol last week could derail plans for additional clemencies before he leaves office on Jan. 20.As unlikely as the prospect of a pardon from Mr. Trump might be, Mr. Assange’s supporters are eager to try before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes office.As vice president, Mr. Biden called the WikiLeaks founder a “high-tech terrorist.” Some of his top advisers blame Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks for helping Mr. Trump win the presidency in 2016 by publishing emails from Democrats associated with Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which U.S. officials say were stolen by Russian intelligence to damage her candidacy. Mr. Trump has long downplayed Russia’s role in the 2016 election.For Mr. Assange’s supporters and press freedom advocates, though, the issues at stake transcend him or politics.“This is so much bigger than Julian,” said Mark Davis, a former journalist who worked with Mr. Assange in Australia, where they are from. If Mr. Assange is prosecuted, “it will have a chilling effect on all national security journalism,” Mr. Davis said, adding: “If we can get Julian off, then the precedent hasn’t been set. If Julian goes down, then it’s bad for all of us.”Mr. Davis, who is now a lawyer specializing in national security and whistle-blower cases, is on the board of Blueprint for Free Speech, an Australia-based nonprofit group that advocates for press freedoms and whistle-blower protections. The group, which was started by Suelette Dreyfus, a former journalist who is an old friend and collaborator with Mr. Assange, signed a pro bono contract on Saturday with the lobbyist Robert Stryk to seek a pardon for Mr. Assange.During Mr. Trump’s presidency, Mr. Stryk, who is well connected in Trump administration circles, has developed a lucrative business representing foreign clients in precarious geopolitical situations.He has worked for a jailed Saudi prince who had fallen out of favor with his country’s powerful de facto leader, as well as the administration of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, which the Trump administration considers illegitimate. Mr. Styrk also worked for Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president, who is accused of embezzling millions of dollars from a state oil company she once headed, as well as the government of the former Congolese president Joseph Kabila, which had faced American sanctions for human rights abuses and corruption.Mr. Stryk said that he was representing Blueprint for Free Speech to seek a pardon for Mr. Assange without pay because of his belief in free speech, and that he would continue pushing for the pardon in the Biden administration if Mr. Trump did not grant it.“This is not a partisan issue,” Mr. Stryk said.The contract, which he said he had disclosed to the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, calls for his company, Stryk Global Diplomacy, to “facilitate meetings and interactions with the president and the president-elect’s administrations” to “obtain a full pardon” for Mr. Assange.Mr. Davis said Mr. Stryk had been chosen partly because of his entree into Mr. Trump’s administration, which the group sees as its best chance to secure a pardon.Mr. Davis noted that Mr. Assange, 49, was indicted during Mr. Trump’s presidency. “We are unabashedly reaching out to the Republican Party on this issue in the final weeks to correct something before it’s too late, and before it become part of Trump’s legacy,” Mr. Davis said.He said, “If Joe Biden is sympathetic, that’s well and good, and we certainly hope he is.” But, he added, “it’s a far simpler process for an outgoing president than an incoming president.”Mr. Assange’s cause has been taken up by a range of media freedom and human rights organizations, public officials and celebrities, including the actress Pamela Anderson.Blueprint for Free Speech is working to harness some of that support, including from Ms. Anderson, a friend of Mr. Assange, who said in an interview that she had been trying to connect with Mr. Trump to plead the case. “I just hate to see him deteriorate in jail right now,” she said of Mr. Assange, describing the pardon push as “a last-ditch effort for all of us who are Julian Assange supporters.”Asked about the effort by Blueprint, Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer representing Mr. Assange, said he “is encouraged by and supports efforts” by a variety of prominent supporters around the world.Mr. Davis stressed that Blueprint’s push was independent of parallel efforts by Mr. Assange’s family and his lawyers, though Mr. Stryk has been in contact with Barry J. Pollack, Mr. Assange’s Washington-based lawyer, who is representing him against the criminal charges.Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Assange unlawfully obtained secret documents and put lives at risk by revealing the names of people who had provided information to the United States in war zones.Mr. Assange’s lawyers have framed the prosecution as a politically driven attack on press freedom.Last month, Mr. Pollack filed a petition for a pardon with the White House Counsel’s Office, which has been vetting clemency requests for Mr. Trump, arguing that Mr. Assange was “being prosecuted for his news gathering and publication of truthful information.”Mr. Pollack declined to comment on the petition, which was obtained by The New York Times, except to say that it was pending.The petition appears to be geared toward appealing to Mr. Trump, who has wielded the unchecked presidential clemency power to aid people with personal connections to him or whose causes resonate with him politically, including a handful of people ensnared in the special counsel’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and ties to his campaign.The petition highlighted that the charges against Mr. Assange stemmed from WikiLeaks’s publication of material that “exposed misconduct committed in Iraq and Afghanistan during wars initiated by a prior administration.” And it notes that the Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks in 2016, which showed some in the party apparatus conspiring to sabotage the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont and Mrs. Clinton’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, resulted in the resignations of party officials.The petition does not address the United States government’s findings about Russia’s role in the theft of the emails as part of its effort to undermine Mrs. Clinton, which has long been a sore spot for Mr. Trump.The petition notes that the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who provided the military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks that led to the charges against Mr. Assange, was commuted by President Barack Obama in the final days of his term.Like Mr. Assange’s lawyers in Britain, Mr. Pollack’s petition raises concerns about Mr. Assange’s health, noting that the prison in which he is being held has been under lockdown after a coronavirus outbreak.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Donald Trump ha considerado otorgarse un perdón, según colaboradores

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionliveLatest UpdatesCalls for Impeachment25th Amendment ExplainedTrump Officials ResignHow Mob Stormed CapitolAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWashingtonDonald Trump ha considerado otorgarse un perdón, según colaboradoresEl presidente ha insinuado, de acuerdo con personas enteradas, su intención en las últimas semanas. No queda claro si lo había discutido después de alentar a sus seguidores a marchar hacia el Capitolio, al que algunos de ellos irrumpieron.El presidente Trump le ha dicho a sus asesores lo mucho que le gusta tener el poder de otorgar perdón.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York TimesMichael S. Schmidt y 7 de enero de 2021Actualizado 16:55 ETRead in EnglishEl presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump, ha insinuado a sus colaboradores que tiene intenciones de otorgarse un indulto a sí mismo en los últimos días de su presidencia, según dos personas con conocimiento de las discusiones. La medida implicaría un uso de los poderes presidenciales extraordinario e inexplorado en la historia de Estados Unidos.En varias conversaciones después del día de las elecciones, Trump ha comentado a sus asesores que considera la posibilidad de otorgarse un perdón y, en otras instancias, ha preguntado si debería hacerlo y qué impacto político y legal tendría en él, según dos personas. No estaba claro si ha tocado el tema después de incitar a sus seguidores el miércoles a irrumpir en el Capitolio en un ataque de turba.Trump ha mostrado que su interés en perdonarse a sí mismo va más allá de reflexiones ociosas. Hace mucho tiempo que insiste en que tiene el poder de perdonarse a sí mismo y típicamente cuando sondea a sus asesores es síntoma de que se prepara a avanzar con sus intenciones. También ha estado cada vez convencido de que quienes él percibe como sus enemigos utilizarán las palancas legales para atacarlo cuando abandone el cargo.Ningún presidente estadounidense se ha otorgado a sí mismo un perdón por lo cual la legitimidad de un posible acto de autoclemencia jamás ha sido puesta a prueba en el sistema legal. Los expertos legales no están de acuerdo en si las cortes lo reconocerían. Pero sí concuerdan en que un autoperdón presidencial crearía un peligroso nuevo precedente para que los presidentes declaren unilateralmente que se encuentran por encima de la ley y se protejan de tener que responder por los crímenes que hayan cometido en el cargo.Un portavoz de la Casa Blanca no respondió a una solicitud de comentario.Trump ha considerado una variedad de perdones preventivos para su familia, entre ellos sus tres hijos mayores —Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump e Ivanka Trump—, su yerno y asesor sénior de la Casa Blanca, Jared Kushner, y para sus aliados cercanos, como Rudolph W. Giuliani, abogado personal del presidente. Trump ha expresado preocupación a sus consejeros de que el Departamento de Justicia de Biden pudiera investigarlos a todos ellos.Trump, quien le ha contado a sus asesores que le complace mucho tener el poder de otorgar clemencia, durante semanas ha solicitado a sus ayudantes y aliados que le sugieran a quién perdonar. También ha ofrecido perdones preventivos a consejeros y funcionarios de su gobierno. Muchos de ellos se han sorprendido porque no consideraban encontrarse en riesgo legal y creyeron que aceptar el ofrecimiento sería visto como una admisión de culpabilidad, según las dos personas.Los perdones presidenciales solo aplican en casos de leyes federales y no protegen de ser enjuiciado o investigado por crímenes estatales. Un perdón serviría en contra de cargos que podrían ser presentados por los fiscales que investigan las finanzas de la Organización Trump en Manhattan.Las discusiones entre Trump y sus asesores sobre el tema de un perdón para el presidente surgieron antes de que el fin de semana presionara a funcionarios del estado de Georgia para que le ayudasen a cambiar los resultados de las elecciones presidenciales o de que incitara a una turba que luego atacó el Capitolio el miércoles. Los aliados de Trump creen que ambos episodios exponen aún más a Trump a verse involucrado en un proceso penal.Cuando los asesores instaron a Trump a que emitiera el miércoles una condena enérgica y él rechazó ese consejo, el abogado de la Casa Blanca, Pat A. Cipollone, advirtió a Trump que podría quedar legalmente vulnerable por los disturbios, dado que de antemano había instado a sus partidarios a marchar al Capitolio y a “luchar”, según personas informadas sobre la conversación. A los asesores de la Casa Blanca les pareció que Trump disfrutaba viendo las escenas que se transmitían en la televisión.Más allá de eso, no queda claro el alcance del riesgo de sometimiento a procesos penales de Trump. El exfiscal especial Robert S. Mueller III, identificó diez ocasiones en las que Trump pudo haber obstaculizado la justicia pero no dijo si el presidente había quebrantado la ley e invocó restricciones legales y de hecho que obstaculizan que se juzgue a un presidente en funciones. Exfuncionarios del Departamento de Justicia y expertos legales dijeron que varios de esos actos deberían ameritar un procedimiento judicial.En 2018, fiscales federales en Nueva York nombraron a Trump como conspirador en un esquema de financiación ilegal de campaña.Una turba de partidarios de Trump irrumpió en el Capitolio el miércoles, después de que el presidente los azuzó.Credit…Kenny Holston para The New York TimesLos indultos pueden ser amplios o específicamente diseñados. Los abogados defensores en casos de cuello blanco dijeron que Trump se beneficiaría más al citar crímenes específicos si se perdona a sí mismo, pero esos detalles podrían ser políticamente perjudiciales al sugerir que reconocía haber cometido esos crímenes.The Presidential TransitionLatest UpdatesUpdated 7 de enero de 2021 a las 21:15 ETBetsy DeVos, education secretary, is second cabinet member to resign.Here’s what Trump’s cabinet members have said about the storming of the Capitol.Lawmakers fear a coronavirus outbreak after sharing close quarters in lockdown.Un perdón presidencial autoconcedido complicaría la ya tensa cuestión que enfrenta el Departamento de Justicia de Biden sobre si investigar y eventualmente enjuiciar a Trump. Los demócratas y exfuncionarios del Departamento de Justicia aseguran que si Trump se perdonara a sí mismo y el Departamento de Justicia evitase procesar a Trump estaría mandando un inquietante mensaje a los estadounidenses sobre el Estado de derecho en el país y a los futuros presidentes sobre la posibilidad de burlar la ley.“El Departamento de Justicia de Biden no querrá acceder a un autoperdón de Trump, que implica que el presidente está literalmente por encima de la ley federal”, dijo Jack Goldsmith, profesor de Derecho en Harvard y ex alto funcionario del Departamento de Justicia en el gobierno de George W. Bush.Un autoperdón estaría alineado con el uso sin precedentes que Trump ha hecho del poder de clemencia. Los autores de la Constitución otorgaron a la figura del presidente casi total autoridad para perdonar crímenes federales y posicionaron así al jefe del poder ejecutivo como un contrapeso del poder judicial y también para intervenir en el sistema de justicia y mostrar misericordia y gracia a los oprimidos.Pero Trump ha desdeñado el proceso formal establecido por el Departamento de Justicia para asegurarse de que los perdones se otorguen de manera justa. En cambio, ha usado su poder de clemencia como ningún otro presidente para favorecer a sus aliados, socavar a sus rivales y beneficiar a su agenda política. De los 94 perdones y conmutaciones de pena que Trump ha otorgado, el 89 por ciento estuvieron destinados a personas que tienen vínculos personales con él, lo ayudaron políticamente o cuyos casos lo impactaron, según un conteo llevado a cabo por Goldsmith.El único presidente que recibió un indulto fue Richard Nixon. Un mes después de que Nixon dejó la presidencia, su exvicepresidente, Gerald Ford, lo perdonó por todos los crímenes que cometió en el cargo. La medida fue ampliamente criticada en ese momento por permitir que la presidencia estuviera por encima de la ley. Los partidarios de Ford culparon al indulto por su derrota en las elecciones dos años después aunque, en última instancia, el indulto llegó a ser visto como un movimiento que ayudó al país a pasar la página tras el caso Watergate.Trump ha sostenido a lo largo de su presidencia que dispone de la autoridad para perdonarse a sí mismo y discutió esa posibilidad por primera vez con sus asistentes durante su primer año en el cargo. Esas conversaciones empezaron cuando los vínculos de su campaña con Rusia estaban bajo el escrutinio de investigadores que intentaban determinar si había obstruido a la justicia.Los expertos jurídicos no están tan seguros de que Trump disponga de un “derecho absoluto” para otorgarse a sí mismo un perdón, como ha declarado.El Departamento de Justicia observó en un breve comentario de agosto de 1974, apenas cuatro días antes de la renuncia de Nixon, que “parecería” que los presidentes no pueden perdonarse a sí mismo “según la regla fundamental de que nadie puede ser juez en su propio caso”.Pero el presidente no se limita por dichas opiniones y no hay nada que impida que Trump firme un perdón para sí mismo. La duda sería si el Departamento de Justicia en otro gobierno estaría dispuesto a respetar un perdón así y con ello renunciar a procesar eventualmente a Trump y, de ser el caso, si el sistema judicial al final decidiría que el perdón protege al mandatario de enfrentar cargos.“Solo una corte puede invalidar un autoperdón, y puede hacerlo solo si el gobierno de Biden presenta un caso en contra de Trump”, dijo Goldsmith. “Un autoperdón de Trump haría entonces más probable que el equipo de Biden procese a Trump por crímenes cometidos en el cargo”.A lo largo de la presidencia de Trump, él y sus aliados han concebido los perdones presidenciales como un modo de ayudarle a protegerse en investigaciones penales. Durante la investigación sobre Rusia, Trump y su abogado personal John M. Dowd ofrecieron perdones a sus excolaboradores. Uno de ellos, su expresidente de campaña Paul Manafort, despreció un ofrecimiento de la fiscalía para llegar a un acuerdo de colaboración.Michael S. Schmidt es un corresponsal que cubre seguridad nacional e investigaciones federales desde Washington. Ha formado parte de dos equipos que ganaron premios Pulitzer en 2018: uno por un reportaje sobre el acoso sexual laboral y otro por la cobertura de los vínculos de la campaña del presidente Trump con Rusia. @NYTMikeMaggie Haberman es corresponsal de la Casa Blanca. Se unió al Times en 2015 como corresponsal de campaña y fue parte del equipo que ganó un premio Pulitzer en 2018 por informar sobre los asesores del presidente Trump y sus conexiones con Rusia.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Accountability After Trump

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storyAccountability After TrumpHow can America rebuild democracy’s guardrails and hold the past administration to account for its lawlessness?The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.Dec. 19, 2020Credit…Damon Winter/The New York TimesAfter any major national disaster or failure of government, it’s essential to study what happened and why, if for no other reason than to enact laws and policies aimed at preventing the same thing from happening again. From the Warren Report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to the Church Committee in the wake of the Watergate scandal, from the commission on the Sept. 11 attacks to the commission on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a thorough official reckoning makes for good government.What could accountability look like in 2021? How does American democracy confront the scale of the damage wrought by the departing president — the brazen obliteration of norms, the abundant examples of criminal behavior, the repeated corruption and abuses of power by the highest officeholder in the land, even after he was impeached?In short, how does America prevent the next Trump administration if it can’t properly hold the current one to account?This is the task facing the country and the next administration, as Joe Biden prepares to assume the presidency after running, and winning, on a platform of national unity and healing. Does restoring the soul of America require an exorcism of the past four years? Or would that only deepen the nation’s divisions, making it impossible to move forward?In a country as polarized as the United States in 2020, making even incremental progress on pressing issues would be a win. We’ve urged Mr. Biden to champion an agenda based on decency. The first step is to dial down the culture wars wherever possible, then pursue a policy agenda where there is ample common ground. But Mr. Biden should also champion accountability after four years that tested the outer limits of what America’s democracy could handle.Credit…Damon Winter/The New York TimesHis victory is itself a powerful form of accountability. A majority of American voters, given the chance to render their verdict on one term of President Trump, rejected his bid for another. Yet defeating Mr. Trump at the polls was only the first step toward recalibrating the country’s moral compass. Two more challenges remain: The first, determining how to investigate the past administration. The second, determining how to ensure that subsequent presidents face more formidable obstacles to wrongdoing than Mr. Trump faced.Any honest accounting of the past four years needs to begin by establishing a shared set of facts about what happened. There is ample evidence already that Mr. Trump and some of his top allies may have broken multiple federal laws by committing campaign-finance violations, lying to federal investigators and obstructing justice, to name a few. Even if he is not prosecuted by federal authorities, Mr. Trump and his businesses face at least two separate tax-fraud investigations in New York. Many of Mr. Trump’s associates have already been convicted of various crimes.Yet there are still many lingering questions, foremost among them: Did the president’s business interests influence his conduct of foreign and domestic policy? The American people have a right to know if that was so.There are also powerful arguments against an administration investigating and prosecuting its opponent. No matter how strong the evidence or how independent Mr. Biden’s attorney general, it will inevitably look to half the country like a political hit job. Perhaps that shouldn’t matter, but from a practical standpoint it’s hard to convince Americans that the Justice Department is not politicized when it’s prosecuting the preceding administration.Then there’s the issue of triage. The moment Mr. Biden takes office he will be saddled with a staggering pileup of emergencies demanding his immediate attention: a pandemic killing thousands of Americans daily; a crippled economy, mass unemployment and miles-long food lines; a worsening climate crisis; and the growing threat of right-wing terrorism and racist violence. Then there was this week’s revelation that the Russian government is behind a huge, monthslong cyberattack on dozens of federal agencies and companies, posing what officials called a “grave risk” to the federal government.Despite the challenges, the nation has to move forward.Many of the most needed reforms fall into the same category as those that were adopted in the aftermath of Watergate: reducing the power of the presidency and re-empowering institutions, like Congress, that are supposed to serve as checks on an imperious executive. Those reforms managed to hold the line for a while, but they turned out to be ineffective at reining in a president with Mr. Trump’s sheer tenacity and disregard for the rule of law. While Mr. Trump failed to fully exploit their weaknesses, a more devious and competent demagogue would be much more likely to succeed.Corruption and abuse of power are the most urgent issues in need of addressing.Four years into Mr. Trump’s presidency and nearly five years since he promised to release his full tax returns, the American people still don’t know how much his personal financial interests and entanglements are intertwined with his administration’s domestic- and foreign-policy decisions. He has an affection for strongmen, but is his solicitousness toward leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman a result of something more mercenary? New laws compelling all presidential candidates to release at least 10 years of their tax returns, as well as a comprehensive list of any possible conflicts of interest, financial and otherwise, should be an obvious step toward reform. Legislation should also bar presidents from being involved in overseeing any business while serving in office.These reforms would need to apply throughout the executive branch. As the nation has seen, Mr. Trump’s administration has been awash from the start in self-dealing, ethical investigations and scandals. From cabinet secretaries to agency heads, the list is long, and likely incomplete.The second major area for reform involves presidential abuse of power, which includes everything from violations of the Hatch Act to the destruction of presidential records. The larger concern is the politicization of law enforcement. Mr. Trump was open in his belief that the Justice Department should do his bidding. He pressured his attorneys general, from Jeff Sessions through William Barr, to protect him and his allies and prosecute his perceived enemies. Sometimes they consented. Other times they resisted. But if law enforcement is to operate fairly and effectively, the American people have to see it as independent from politics.Mr. Trump has also abused his power by pardoning friends and associates who have been convicted of serious crimes. More recently he has floated granting pre-emptive pardons to family members and even himself, which may be unconstitutional. Mr. Trump isn’t the first to test the pardon power’s limits, but he has politicized and personalized it to an unparalleled degree. Since the power is essentially absolute, any meaningful change to it would require a constitutional amendment.As for the other reforms, some can be accomplished through executive orders, more stringent regulations or internal agency memos. But the most lasting will have to be enacted through federal laws, like the Protecting Our Democracy Act, a bill Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced in September. The legislation includes many measures that Republicans have supported in the past. Among other things, it would prohibit self-pardons, give Congress more power to enforce subpoenas, reduce the chance of politically motivated prosecutions by requiring more transparency from the Justice Department and provide more protection for inspectors general and whistle-blowers.The problem with passing laws is that you need both houses of Congress, and to date many Republican lawmakers have showed little to no interest in addressing these sorts of abuses. Most of them still refuse to acknowledge Mr. Biden’s victory. Perhaps once they do, the prospect of similar abuses by a Democratic president might give them the incentive they need to get on board with reforms.In the absence of any cooperation from the Senate, Mr. Biden could establish a bipartisan executive commission. Its primary task would be to tell the story of what happened and to propose remedies. It would need to have the power to compel the production of both witnesses and documents, and the mandate to produce as complete and accurate a record as possible of the violations of laws and norms by the Trump administration.It’s been four years since Americans lived under a president who placed the country’s well-being and security above his own personal interests. Simply by occupying the Oval Office, Mr. Biden can begin to repair the damage caused by his predecessor. With every act he takes, he will send an important message to the American people, and the world, about what a president should do — and, perhaps more important, what a president should not do, even if he technically has the power to do it.That’s why Mr. Biden’s victory is significant, apart from any specific reforms. “So much of whether these reforms will be successful and whether the prestige of the presidency and the dignity of the presidency will be respected is not going to depend on legal reform,” said Jack Goldsmith, a lawyer in the George W. Bush administration who co-wrote a book about reconstructing the presidency after Mr. Trump. “It’s going to depend on the identity of the person who’s the president. So not everything can be done by law. Some things need to be done by elections.”The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More