Libby lawyer: Trump got ‘a thrill’ from pardoning Scooter Libby
An informal legal adviser to President Donald Trump said the President got “a thrill” when he granted Scooter Libby a pardon, and she denied that any pardons are intended to send a political message to his personal attorney Michael Cohen.
Asked whether a possible pardon for the late boxer Jack Johnson is intended to signal to Cohen that he, too, could be pardoned, Victoria Toensing replied, “No.”
“No, I’m telling you, he got a thrill from giving Scooter a pardon,” Toensing, who has been Libby’s attorney, told CNN’s Erin Burnett when asked about the President’s motive for pardons.
Trump pardoned Libby, a former aide to Dick Cheney, earlier this month.
On Saturday, Trump said he is considering posthumously pardoning Johnson, who was convicted in 1913 under the Mann Act for taking his white girlfriend across state lines for “immoral” purposes — per the advice of actor Sylvester Stallone.
“Sylvester Stallone called me with the story of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson. His trials and tribulations were great, his life complex and controversial,” Trump tweeted. “Others have looked at this over the years, most thought it would be done, but yes, I am considering a Full Pardon!”
Toensing said, “I would think that anybody who could take back a crime, for a black and white woman marrying, that would thrill me to be able to give a pardon for that.”
Cohen has been under criminal investigation in New York for months, which was announced following a raid of his home and office by federal investigators.
Cohen’s attorneys attempted to block investigators from using some of the records they seized during the raid, and the investigation has had the Trump team on edge.
