Gov. Andrew Cuomo said to reporters on Thursday that if President Donald Trump pardons his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, it could be seen as an “impeachable offense” and possibly an obstruction of justice.

Cuomo said there's speculation that Trump could pardon Cohen to escape testimony from Cohen connecting him to crimes that Cohen pleaded guilty to earlier this week. Cohen implicated Trump in hush-money payments to two women before the 2016 election while pleading guilty to his involvement in the scheme.

Speaking to reporters in Owego, New York, Cuomo, a former prosecutor himself, criticized the hypothetical plan.

“If Michael Cohen implicates the president in a crime and the president steps in and pardons Cohen from the crime to stop Cohen from implicating the president, that would be the most obnoxious constitutional situation,” Cuomo said. “It would be a total aberration of justice. I believe it would be an immediately impeachable offense because it really is an obstruction of justice and just because in Washington it's so crazy it seems anyone can get away with anything.”

Cuomo called on state lawmakers to pass a law that would allow prosecutors in New York to charge someone pardoned by the president with state crimes based on the same set of facts. Legislation to close the so-called double jeopardy loophole was introduced earlier this year, but did not move.

Cohen's attorney said this week that his client did not want to accept a pardon from Trump if it's offered, though legal experts said Cohen may not have much of a choice.

If he is pardoned, the sponsor of legislation to close the double jeopardy loophole said state charges may already be impossible, even if his bill passes. Cohen entered a guilty plea, at which time double jeopardy may have already been attached to him. That may leave him exempt from state charges.