Don checks on pardons for kin, staff

PRESIDENT TRUMP is asking his advisers about his power to pardon his staff and family as part of a plan to undercut the special prosecutor investigating his campaign ties to Russia, a new report said Thursday.

He even wants to know if he can pardon himself.

According to the Washington Post, the President’s team is also building a case against what they claim are conflicts of interest inherent in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation.

The aides are actively compiling a list of areas that they consider off base for Mueller, the newspaper said.

Trump has already expressed concern that Mueller’s probe would reach too far, and extend into his and his family’s finances.

Trump refused to release his taxes on the campaign trail, a posture he maintained after he got into the White House.

“The fact is that the President is concerned about conflicts that exist within the special counsel’s office and any changes in the scope of the investigation,” Jay Sekulow, one of the President’s private lawyers, told the Post.

A leading Democrat scoffed at the notion of any pardons for people connected to the Russia probe.

“Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections was an attack on our democracy,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

“The possibility that the President is considering pardons at this early stage in these ongoing investigations is extremely disturbing. Pardoning any individuals who may have been involved would be crossing a fundamental line.”