Rudy Giuliani has discussed the possibility with President Trump that Giuliani could receive a presidential pardon, according to a report in The New York Times.
The Times reported Tuesday that the two men had the pardon discussion as recently as last week, though the newspaper said it is not clear who first raised the matter. It reported the two discussed the possibility of Trump preemptively pardoning Giuliani, who has not been charged with any crimes.
Shortly after the report was published, Giuliani fiercely denied that such a discussion took place, stating on Twitter that the Times is lying and that he “never had the discussion [that] they falsely attribute to an anonymous source.”
“Rudy Giuliani has responded that this report is false and such a conversation never happened. That should clarify the situation. It is just another false attack,” Giuliani attorney Robert Costello told The Hill, in response to a request for comment.
The Times report, authored by two senior and well-respected reporters, Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, comes as talk of pardons rises in Trump’s orbit.
On Monday, Fox News host Sean Hannity said that Trump should seek to issue a pardon to himself and that he should also pardon members of his family.
Hannity made the remarks while responding to an op-ed by a former member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s office that argued Trump should be investigated and potentially prosecuted by the Biden administration.
“If that’s what they want to do, if Biden ever became president, I’d tell Trump to pardon yourself and pardon your family,” Hannity said on his Fox News show late Monday.
Giuliani, who has been at the forefront of the Trump campaign’s efforts to dispute the 2020 election results that rendered former Vice President Joe Biden the winner, has also previously talked with the president about a pardon for himself, the Times reported.