The White House is not talking about possible pardons for individuals swept up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday.
“There’s no discussion of that taking place at this point,” Sanders told reporters outside the White House when asked about future pardons for Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman, and Roger Stone, President Trump’s longtime informal adviser.
The special counsel’s investigation, which spanned nearly two years, led to indictments of 34 people and three Russian companies. Six of those individuals were close to Trump, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump campaign official Rick Gates, Manafort, and Stone.
The charges against several of the president’s associates and advisers led to speculation as to whether Trump would issue pardons for them.
In the case of Manafort in particular, Trump has been steadfast that the charges against him had nothing to do with collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The president told reporters last month he feels “very badly” for his former campaign chairman but hadn’t given a thought to whether he will pardon him.
“It’s not something that’s right now on my mind,” Trump said.
Mueller delivered his long-awaited report on the inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election Friday. On Sunday, Attorney General Bill Barr issued a four-page letter to Congress summarizing Mueller’s conclusions.
The investigation, Barr wrote, “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
Mueller did not make a determination on whether Trump obstructed justice, leaving that question to Barr. But the attorney general told lawmakers he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded the evidence from Mueller’s probe “is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
