White House lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggested that US President Donald Trump might pardon his former campaign manager Paul Manafort if he is convicted - but only after Special Counsel Robert Mueller has completed his investigation.
"When it's over, hey, he's the president of the United States, he retains his pardon power, nobody's taking that away from him," Giuliani said on CNN's State of the Union when asked whether Trump would pardon Manafort should he be convicted. "I couldn't and I don't want to take any prerogatives away from him."
But Giuliani stressed that Trump has not issued, would not issue and should not issue any pardons related to the Mueller probe while it is still ongoing, so as not to give the appearance that he has anything to hide.
"The President has not issued pardons in this investigation. The President is not going to issue pardons in this investigation, and my advice to him as long as I am his lawyer is not to do it because you just cloud what is becoming now a very clear picture of an extremely unfair investigation with no criminality involved of any kind," Giuliani said.
Manafort was jailed last week over charges that he attempted to tamper with witnesses related to his pending trial on federal conspiracy and money-laundering charges. Trump reacted by playing down Manafort's role in his campaign.