WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lawyer who has led the most extensive efforts to damage his client's political rivals and undermine the election results, discussed with him as recently as last week the possibility of receiving a preemptive pardon before Mr Trump leaves office, according to two people told of the discussion.
Mr Giuliani did not respond to a message seeking comment, but after a version of this article was published online, he attacked it on Twitter and said it was false. Mr Trump has wielded his clemency powers liberally in cases that resonate with him personally or for people who have a direct line to him through friends or family, while thousands of other cases await his review.
In July, Mr Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime adviser Roger Stone, who had refused to cooperate with the special counsel's investigators and was eventually convicted of seven felonies. Last week, Mr Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had backed out of his cooperation agreement with the special counsel's office for"any and all possible offences" beyond the charge he had faced of lying to federal investigators.
Mr Giuliani has asked Mr Trump's campaign to pay him US$20,000 a day for his work on trying to overturn the election, a figure that would make him among the most highly paid lawyers in the world. The staggering sum has stirred opposition among Mr Trump's aides that Mr Giuliani has perpetuated the claims of election fraud in hopes of making as much money as possible.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have been investigating since 2019 the role of Mr Giuliani and two other associates in a wide-ranging pressure campaign directed at pushing the Ukrainian government to investigate Mr Trump's rivals, namely the son of Joe Biden.
So lucky to be politicians ... you get away all the time.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.