WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should receive a pardon for corruption charges, saying Israeli President Isaac Herzog should be “ashamed of himself” for not granting one.
Trump said Netanyahu has been a great wartime prime minister and that the Israeli people should shame Herzog for not pardoning him. “He’s disgraceful for not giving it. He should give it,” Trump said during a White House event.
Netanyahu met Trump in Washington on Wednesday — the seventh meeting between the two leaders since Trump took office last year — for talks about reaching a deal on Iran’s nuclear program and its ballistic missiles.
Netanyahu is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to be charged with a crime and denies bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.
Trump has publicly urged the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu several times, and said in late December that Herzog had told him the pardon was on its way. Herzog’s office was quick to dispute it.
Under Israeli law, the president has the authority to pardon convicts. But there is no precedent for issuing a pardon mid-trial.
In response to queries about Trump’s comment, Herzog’s office said Netanyahu’s request was under review at the Israeli Ministry of Justice for a legal opinion, and once that process was completed, Herzog would consider the request.
Trump says Netanyahu should be pardoned for corruption
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