President Donald Trump has spoken to his advisers as recently as last week about whether he should grant preemptive pardons to his children, son-in-law and Rudy Giuliani, according to numerous reports.
Last week it was revealed that Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, had sat down with the president on the subject of pardoning him before Trump leaves office in January, The New York Times reported.
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Those close to Trump said the commander in chief is worried that Joe Biden’s Justice Department might seek to prosecute his three oldest children — Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka — along with Jared Kushner, who has served as Trump’s senior adviser since he took office.
But the motivating reason for the president’s concern has not yet come into focus, the Times reported.
Trump Jr. was never charged after he was investigated during special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and Kushner — who provided false information to the FBI about his contacts with foreigners — was ultimately granted a security clearance at the White House anyway.
On the other hand, Trump himself faces a troubling set of legal matters, including an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney which has expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees by the Trump Organization, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump, the Times reported.
Presidential pardons apply in federal cases but do not provide protection against state or local crimes.
Giuliani could be exposed to criminal liability due to a federal investigation in Manhattan over his business dealings in Ukraine. Other factors in that case, including the ouster of the American ambassador to Ukraine, ultimately led to President Trump’s impeachment in late 2019.
The former New York mayor has also become one of the loudest voices pushing unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, the Times reported. Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday said there is no widespread fraud that would change the election.
White House aides have found themselves inundated in recent days by intense conversations and speculation over pardons that could be coming down the pike from the Oval Office, the Times reported.
The continuing ballyhoo among the staff underscored the level to which the Trump administration has been dogged by investigations and criminal prosecutions of multiple figures in the president’s orbit — those including Roger Stone and Michael Cohen, the Times reported.
Adding to the whirlwind, court documents unsealed Tuesday revealed the Justice Department was investigating the possibility of a secret scheme to lobby White House officials for a pardon from the president.
On Tuesday night, Trump tweeted that the “Pardon investigation is Fake News!”
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