President Donald Trump’s recently reshuffled legal team is looking at what authority the President has to grant pardons, as it relates to the investigation into Russia meddling with the U.S. election, according to The Washington Post.
Trump himself has asked about his authority when it comes to pardoning his staffers and family members — and even himself. But an adviser told The Washington Post that the questions were posed out of curiosity, not necessarily as it relates to the Russia probe.
“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,’” one adviser told the Post.
The legal team is also conducting background research on special counsel Robert Mueller and his staff, looking for potential conflicts of interest as a way to discredit the investigation and potentially justify firing Mueller.
The news comes just a few days after the President declared it would be a “violation” for Mueller to dig into his family’s finances. A day later, Bloomberg reported Mueller would be investigating a number of Russia-related business transactions the President has conducted in recent years.
