WASHINGTON >> In the aftermath of last-minute pardons President Donald Trump issued to allies and well-connected applicants, a Democratic senator is proposing legislation to require more transparency about the process of presidential pardons and more disclosure from people lobbying on behalf of those seeking clemency.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former prosecutor, plans to introduce a measure seeking to bring greater public awareness to the often opaque circumstances surrounding presidential pardons. It also would require more notification to the Justice Department and consultation on the potential effect any pardon would have “on the success of any ongoing investigation or prosecution.”

His legislation follows reporting by The New York Times on the intervention by Trump in the case of Jonathan Braun of New York, whose drug smuggling sentence Trump cut short on his last day in office. The commutation caught the Justice Department by surprise and eliminated leverage federal prosecutors had over Braun as they sought to enlist him as an informant in an investigation into predatory lending, a field where Braun was active.

“Right now the process is so open to corruption that a lot can just happen totally under the radar without anyone knowing about it,” Blumenthal said. “Here we require not only disclosure, but an impact statement so it gives the investigative agencies, the career guys and the Department of Justice, a chance to say, wait a minute, we’ve got this guy under investigation, or he is providing us with information, and we’ll lose it all, and he won’t be a witness.”

William Barr, an attorney general under Trump who had left by the time of the Braun commutation, previously told the Times that when he took over the Justice Department, he discovered that “there were pardons being given without any vetting by the department.”

The legislation would require administration officials who learn of a potential pardon to immediately notify the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department. That office would then begin producing an impact statement on the possible pardon to gather the views of prosecutors and any victims.

Under Trump, the White House often bypassed the pardon lawyer’s office, which historically has consulted with the White House and provided expertise on requests for pardons. Blumenthal’s measure also seeks to eliminate what he termed a “loophole” that allows those being paid to lobby for pardons to escape public registration if the effort does not exceed 20% of their time spent on behalf of a client.