'Stupid question': Trump dismisses talk of pardoning Michael Cohen

President Donald Trump reacted negatively Tuesday to a question about whether he'd seek to pardon Michael Cohen, his longtime associate and attorney whose home and office were raided by FBI agents earlier this month.

Asked by ABC’s Jon Karl whether he would consider a pardon for Cohen, the president, who was meeting in the Oval Office with French President Emmanuel Macron, glared and snapped, “Stupid question.”


The White House has been fending off questions about a possible pardon for Cohen, who has not been charged with a crime, ever since the raids. He has come under scrutiny over actions including paying $130,000 in alleged "hush money" to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had sex with Trump more than a decade ago.

Legislative affairs director Marc Short told CNN on Monday that there’s “no need” to pardon Cohen. “I think that the president, of course, all of us are frustrated,” Short said. “We’re very frustrated with the scope of the investigation and the way it’s dragged on.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Monday: “I don’t think that we are going to talk about hypotheticals that don’t exist right now.”

While some Trump critics have speculated that Cohen could “flip” on his client and reveal information about the president to special counsel Robert Mueller, many of Cohen’s communications with Trump are likely protected by attorney-client privilege, which could be waived only by Trump.

