x
Breaking News
More () »

Grassley on Giuliani pardon comments: ‘I think I would hire a new lawyer’

Grassley chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
180604123018-chuck-grassley-manu-raju-6-4-2018-exlarge-169

(CNN) — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, suggested Monday that the President should hire a new lawyer if his current one is telling him that he can pardon himself.

“If I were President of the United States and I had a lawyer that told me I could pardon myself, I think I would hire a new lawyer,” Grassley told CNN when asked if he agrees that President Donald Trump could pardon himself.

Trump tweeted Monday that he had the “absolute right to pardon myself” but would not do so because he’d done nothing wrong.

“As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!” the President tweeted.

Trump’s comments echo the stance that his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has taken. Giuliani said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump “probably does” have such power to pardon himself, but won’t.

In addition, Giuliani told HuffPost in an interview that the President’s power extends so far that “in no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted.”

“I don’t know how you can indict while he’s in office. No matter what it is,” Giuliani said. “If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani said to HuffPost. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him.”

A decision by Trump to pardon himself — or even his close allies like former campaign chairman Paul Manafort — could raise constitutional questions for Congress, as some Democrats have said that such pardons or the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller could be grounds for impeachment.

Before You Leave, Check This Out