White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday would not rule out the possibility that President Trump would issue pardons to shield himself or his staff from the federal probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. "The president maintains pardon powers like any president would," Sanders said, but she added that "there are no announcements" about pardons at this time.

Sanders spoke after questions about a report in The Washington Post that said Trump had asked his advisers about his ability to offer pardons to himself, family member or aides because of the probe. The report also said that Trump's legal team is looking into the issue. That story followed other news reports that special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the federal probe into Russia's involvement in last year's election and possible connections to Trump, is looking at Trump's business holdings. Trump in an interview with The New York Times this week said he viewed such a probe as being beyond the proper scope of Mueller's investigation.

This appeared on The Hill, July 21, 2017

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July 22, 2017