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Trump won't discuss Mueller pardons yet but says "scam" hurt many

Photo: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

As a convicted former Trump campaign aide seeks a pardon, the president appears unlikely to do so for now, according to comments he made on Fox News' "Hannity" and remarks by his lawyer Wednesday.

I don’t want to talk about pardons now but I can say it’s so sad on so many levels ... Many many people were hurt, incredibly hurt, by this whole scam."
— President Trump tells Fox News' "Hannity"

The details: Fox News anchor Sean Hannity asked Trump during their interview if he'd consider pardoning former national security adviser Michael Flynn or ex-Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos, now the Mueller probe had ended. “General Flynn ... was a man who had an incredible record in the military, you see what happened to him,” Trump said. "You know what he has gone through, and what so many others have gone through."

What they're saying: Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani ruled out any such move during an interview with the AP. "The president is not going to consider pardons," he said. "He’s not gonna give any pardons. If it ever happens, it has to happen in the future, but nobody has any promise of it, nobody should assume it. Of course, he has the power to do it, but I have no reason to believe he’s going to use it."

The backdrop: Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on the nature of his conversations with the then-Russian ambassador to the U.S. and is awaiting sentencing. Papadopoulos served a 12-day prison sentence after being charged by the Mueller investigation for lying to the FBI. He told Reuters Tuesday his lawyers had formally applied for a pardon from Trump.

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Margaret Harding McGill, Sara Fischer
5 hours ago - Technology

Tech scrambles to derail inauguration threats

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Tech companies are sharing more information with law enforcement in a frantic effort to prevent violence around the inauguration, after the government was caught flat-footed by the Capitol siege.

Between the lines: Tech knows it will be held accountable for any further violence that turns out to have been planned online if it doesn't act to stop it.

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Dave Lawler, author of World
5 hours ago - World

Uganda's election: Museveni declared winner, Wine claims fraud

Wine rejected the official results of the election. Photo: Sumy Sadruni/AFP via Getty

Yoweri Museveni was declared the winner of a sixth presidential term on Saturday, with official results giving him 59% to 35% for Bobi Wine, the singer-turned-opposition leader.

Why it matters: This announcement was predictable, as the election was neither free nor fair and Museveni had no intention of surrendering power after 35 years. But Wine — who posed a strong challenged to Museveni, particularly in urban areas, and was beaten and arrested during the campaign — has said he will present evidence of fraud. The big question is whether he will mobilize mass resistance in the streets.

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Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu
6 hours ago - Politics & Policy
Off the Rails

Episode 1: A premeditated lie lit the fire

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. Axios takes you inside the collapse of a president with a special series.

Episode 1: Trump’s refusal to believe the election results was premeditated. He had heard about the “red mirage” — the likelihood that early vote counts would tip more Republican than the final tallies — and he decided to exploit it.

"Jared, you call the Murdochs! Jason, you call Sammon and Hemmer!”

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