Senator Mark Warner speaks out as reports emerge that US president’s lawyers are seeking to discredit Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The highest-ranking Democrat on the US Senate intelligence committee has said it was “extremely disturbing” if Donald Trump was contemplating a pardon for aides that could be implicated in a probe on Russian meddling in last year’s election.



Senator Mark Warner was referring to a Washington Post article late Thursday saying that Trump was consulting with advisers “about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself” in connection to the probe led by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller.

Q&A Can presidents pardon themselves? Show Hide It is not clear whether it is possible for US presidents to pardon themselves. The constitution does not explicitly prohibit self-pardons, but it has never been done before. The nearest precedent is supplied by Richard Nixon, who sought advice on the question as he faced the prospect of impeachment for obstruction of justice and abuse of power following the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. Nixon’s personal lawyer advised him that he could pardon himself, but the justice department said he could not, according to Brian C Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University whose recent book, Constitutional Cliffhangers, devotes a chapter to the issue. Nixon resigned and was eventually pardoned by his successor, president Gerald Ford. "It really is uncharted territory," Kalt said.​ "Anyone who’s certain is wrong."

Trump’s lawyers were attempting to “corral the probe” and were compiling a list of Mueller’s alleged potential conflicts of interest in order to “stymie his work”, according to the Post, which quoted anonymous sources for the article.

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In a statement, Warner said that Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections “was an attack on our democracy. Both the Senate intelligence committee and special counsel Mueller are currently investigating whether any coordination occurred between Russia and individuals associated with the Trump campaign”.

“The possibility that the president is considering pardons at this early stage in these ongoing investigations is extremely disturbing,” said Warner, the senior senator from Virginia and vice-chair of the intelligence committee.

“Pardoning any individuals who may have been involved would be crossing a fundamental line.”

The White House has yet to comment on the Post report.

In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, Trump warned Mueller that some of his family finances should be off-limits to his investigation.

Asked if Mueller looking at finances unrelated to Russia would be a red line, Trump responded: “I would say yes.”

A move by Trump’s legal team to look for conflicts of interest among members of Mueller’s investigative team was also reported by both the New York Times and Associated Press on Thursday.

AP said two people with knowledge of the investigative process say efforts under way include exploring the political affiliations of Mueller’s investigators and their work history.

Attorney Jay Sekulow, a member of the president’s external legal team, told AP that the lawyers “will consistently evaluate the issue of conflicts and raise them in the appropriate venue”.

On Friday, White House aide Kellyanne Conway said it was only fair to expose any potential conflicts of interest of investigators helping Mueller examine Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the Trump campaign.

Conway told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” that members of Mueller’s team have contributed to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the past. “It’s relevant that people know what the motivations are. That is not an attack on the team.”

Mueller and congressional committees are investigating whether the president’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election. While Trump has assailed the inquiries as a partisan “witch hunt”, the investigations have increasingly drawn in his family and close advisers, including son Donald Trump Jr and son-in-law and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.

As the investigations intensify, Trump’s legal team is also undergoing a shake-up. New York-based attorney Marc Kasowitz, whose unconventional style has irked some White House aides, is seen as a diminishing presence in the operation, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Mark Corallo, who has been working as a spokesman for the legal team, is no longer part of the operation, according to those familiar with the situation. They insisted on anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.