Rudy Giuliani, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are denying allegations that they sought pardons from Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.
In bombshell testimony on Tuesday before the House committee investigating the deadly attack, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Meadows, said under oath that both men had asked about pardons for themselves.
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A spokesperson for Meadows told NBC News Wednesday that “Meadows never sought a pardon and never planned to.”
In a statement late Tuesday shared by his lawyer, Robert Costello, Giuliani said, “Not only didn’t I ever request a pardon. I told my client, President Trump, that if I was offered a pardon, I would turn it down. Since I had done nothing wrong, there was no need for a pardon.”
The onetime Trump attorney, one of the most prominent supporters of Trump’s stolen election lies, gave a more confusing account on Twitter Wednesday, saying Hutchinson was a “reckless liar” who “was never present when I asked for a pardon.” “Actually, I told the President I did not want or need one,” he added. He later deleted the tweet.
Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, testified for nine hours before the House committee last month. It’s unclear if he was asked about the pardons.
In a public Jan. 6 hearing last week, it was revealed that another former Trump lawyer, John Eastman, said in an email to Giuliani after Jan. 6: “I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works.”
Meadows has refused to testify before the committee. The House voted in December to refer him to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress, but the DOJ has declined to act on the request.
The testimony of Hutchinson also conflicted with Meadows’ public claims that Trump was speaking “metaphorically” when he said during his speech at the Ellipse on Jan. 6 that he planned on marching to the Capitol. Hutchinson testified that Trump was determined to go to the Capitol, and was irate with Meadows for not helping to make the trip happen.
In an interview with the Washington Post earlier this year, Trump said, “Secret Service said I couldn’t go. I would have gone there in a minute.”
Hutchinson also testified that Trump initially had language included about pardons for people involved with Jan. 6 in remarks he was set to deliver on Jan. 7, but was convinced to remove it by the office of White House counsel Pat Cipollone. She said Meadows had been “encouraging that language.”
Asked if Meadows had ever expressed interest in a pardon for himself, Hutchinson said, “Mr. Meadows did seek that pardon.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
