Giuliani: No pardons now, but maybe when Russia probe over
President Trump isn't giving out any pardons during the Russia investigation, but might when the probe concludes, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday.
The former New York mayor was asked on CNN's “State of the Union” if Trump would pardon Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager who has been indicted as part of the Russia probe.
“The President has issued no pardons in this investigation. The President is not going to issue pardons in this investigation,” he said. “And my advice to him, as long as I'm his lawyer, is not to do it, because you just cloud what is becoming now a very clear picture of an extremely unfair investigation.”
But that could change as soon as the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up, Giuliani said.
“When it's over, hey, he's the President of the United States. He retains his pardon power. Nobody is taking that away from him,” he said. “I couldn't and I don't want to take prerogatives away from him.”
Giuliani's comments came after he held out the possibility of a pardon for Manafort in an interview with the Daily News on Friday, saying, “When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons.”
A judge Friday revoked Manafort's bail and ordered him to stay behind bars while awaiting his September trial on charges relating to his pro-Russian business dealings in Ukraine, after investigators charged Manafort tried to secure false testimony from potential witnesses.
Giuliani continued to insist Sunday that there was no collusion between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian nationals seeking to influence the election.