Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that once Special Counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, President Trump could issue pardons to some of the people swept up in the case.
“When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons,” he told the New York Daily News — on the day former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was being sent to jail for violating the terms of his bail for witness tampering.
The president was asked by reporters Friday about the possibility of pardons for some of the former members of his campaign and White House. While he declined to say much on the matter, “I don’t want to talk about that,” Mr. Trump also told reporters, “I do want to see people treated fairly.”
At the same time, President Trump on Friday told reporters that “Manafort has nothing to do with our campaign.” He said Manafort only “worked for me for a very short period of time — worked for many other Republicans — he worked for me for 49 days or something.”
Giuliani, who is a former federal prosecutor, also questioned the judge’s decision to revoke Manafort’s bail. “I don’t understand the justification for putting him in jail,” Giuliani told the Daily News. “You put a guy in jail if he’s trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
