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Giuliani furiously denies discussing pardon with Trump

‘I did not ask the president for a pardon and I have not committed any crimes’

Chris Riotta
New York
Friday 04 December 2020 15:18 GMT
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Giuliani attempts to shush alleged voter fraud witness
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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has claimed he has not spoken to President Donald Trump about a possible pardon as new reports indicate the White House is preparing a slew of pardons for the president’s close associates and family members.

The president’s personal attorney shot down questions of his possible pardon during a contentious oversight hearing in Michigan on Wednesday where Mr Giuliani and his witnesses promoted false claims of mass voter fraud while seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

When asked by a lawmaker about the reports, the former mayor condemned the question and requested the Republican chair to reprimand the Democratic representative.

“That is a defamation of my professional character,” Mr Giuliani exclaimed during the hearing. “Do you allow that? Do you allow that to happen in your legislator?”

Mr Giuliani was later asked by reporters whether he had spoken to the president about a possible pardon, causing him to again appear frustrated and furious while leaving the hearing room.

“Are you really going to ask me that?” he asled a reporter. “Of course I didn’t.”

“That’s so ridiculous,” he added. “I did not ask the president for a pardon and I have not committed any crimes.”

A video of Mr Giuliani’s exchange with the reporters quickly went viral on Thursday, with New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman posting the clip to Twitter and writing: “More from the former mayor, who declined to answer our question about this the other day before publication and whose aide said he couldn’t discuss his conversations w the president.”

His comments come just two days after multiple news outlets reported that he requested a presidential pardon from Mr Trump. Other reports have indicated the president’s lawyers and close advisers are urging him to issue pardons for their own clients and associates.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have even reportedly discussed issuing a slew of pardons to people who were convicted of crimes under vice president-elect Kamala Harris when she served as a state prosecutor in California — but presidential pardons can only apply to federal crimes, not state crimes. 

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