President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Thursday night clarified remarks he made earlier in the day that Trump sought advice on whether he should pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“Let me clarify: only conversation about a pardon was a generic one that occurred around the time of the commutation for the woman recommended by Kim Kardashian,” Giuliani said in a statement reported by multiple outlets.
“Originally I thought it was 4 or 5 weeks ago but it turns out it was in early June. The conversation came about because there had been several pardons and the press kept asking about pardons and I wanted to give one answer,” Giuliani added.
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Giuliani said he brought up the topic of pardons with Trump “in early June, latest mid-June, and “he said there would be no pardons for anyone involved in the investigation during the pendency of the investigation. It was not Manafort specific, rather it was generic.”
The Trump lawyer issued the statement after saying earlier Thursday that the president had asked his personal lawyers about a potential pardon during Manafort’s trial on bank and tax fraud charges, which wrapped up earlier this week.
Manafort was found guilty on eight charges, while a judge declared a mistrial for an additional 10 counts. A number of Republicans have warned Trump against trying to issue a pardon to his former campaign chief.
Giuliani had previously claimed Trump was frustrated over his exposure as it related to Manafort, saying the charges had nothing to do with alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.
The Trump lawyer initially said he advised against pardons while special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe continued before issuing a clarification on his remarks Thursday night.
Trump has praised Manafort during and after his trial, calling him “brave” and slamming the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt.”
Giuliani’s statement mentioning Kardashian refers to Trump’s move in June to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense. Kardashian was heavily involved in lobbying for Johnson’s release.