Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, suggested Monday that President Trump may need to hire a new lawyer after his attorney Rudy Giuliani argued a day earlier that the president has the constitutional powers to pardon himself.
“If I were president of the United States and I had a lawyer that said I could pardon myself, I think I would hire a new lawyer,” Grassley told CNN.
Here’s Grassley responding to question on whether he agrees with Trump that he could pardon himself https://t.co/dswhL5kiW1
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 4, 2018
Giuliani made his rounds on the morning news shows Sunday to argue that Trump has the powers to pardon himself but he has no plans to do so because he could be impeached.
Trump echoed Giuliani’s statement in a tweet Monday, claiming he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself but he currently sees no reason to do so because he has “done nothing wrong.”
[Related: Chris Christie: Trump will be impeached if he pardons himself]
Both the president and his lawyer have maintained that Trump is innocent as they ramp up attacks at special counsel Robert Mueller. Their comments follow reports that Trump’s legal team sent a letter to Mueller in January arguing that the president cannot be charged with obstruction of justice and should not be interviewed by special counsel investigators.
