Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump’s legal team, said Sunday the possibility of the president granting pardons is “not on the table” in the future.
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“We have not, and continue to not, have conversations with the president of the United States regarding pardons. Pardons have not been discussed. The issue of pardons is not on the table,” Sekulow told ABC’s “This Week.”
“There’s nothing to pardon from.”
.@JaySekulow to @ThisWeekABC: “The issue of pardons is not on the table. There’s nothing to pardon from.” https://t.co/kzC3IsWwBg pic.twitter.com/1f6RldGd1W— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) July 23, 2017
According to The Washington Post, Trump asked his aides recently about his power to potential pardon aides, family members, and himself in connection with the ongoing investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 campaign.
Trump himself brought up the issue of pardons in a tweet on Saturday, saying he has the “complete power” to pardon individuals, including himself.
“While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS,” Trump said.
Anthony Scaramucci, the newly-minted White House communications directly said that Trump was simply talking about his power to pardon in the tweet.
“He doesn’t have to be pardoned. There’s nobody around him that has to be pardoned. He was just making the statement about the power of pardon,” Scaramucci told Fox News Sunday. “So now all of the speculation and all of the spin is, ‘oh, he’s going to pardon himself and do all this other nonsense.’ The president doesn’t have to pardon himself. The reason he doesn’t have to pardon himself is he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
