- President Donald Trump pointed out that he has the "complete power" to grant pardons on Saturday.
- Trump's assertion came amid reports that he was exploring the possibility of pardoning himself.
- The Trump administration has also begun ramping up its efforts to discredit special counsel Mueller's investigation.
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'Out and out political warfare': Trump claims 'complete power to pardon' amid the White House's escalating war on Russia investigation
President Trump may be laying the groundwork to fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
U.S. President Donald Trump gives a public speech in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument at Krasinski Square, in Warsaw, Poland.
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President Donald Trump pointed out his "complete power to pardon" individuals convicted of wrongdoing in his capacity as president on Saturday.
"While all agree the U. S. President has the completely power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS," Trump tweeted.
Trump's tweet came on the heels of a Washington Post report that said the president and his legal team were looking into the
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Seidman said the real question was why Trump would even need to pardon himself, given the protection from prosecution his office affords him and the unlikelihood that he would be charged after leaving office.
"The more serious threat is that Trump would either pardon everyone else or fire Mueller," Seidman said. "My own sense, for what it's worth, is that this outcome is very likely."
But firing Mueller or issuing pardons "would be certain to ignite the kind of political firestorm that we haven't seen since the Saturday Night Massacre," he said, and Trump's political opponents would undoubtedly paint it as obstruction of justice.
Indeed, it appears that Trump and his allies are ramping up their war on Mueller and planting seeds aimed at discrediting his investigation, possibly setting up a scenario in which Trump could fire the special counsel.
On Friday, " target="_blank"Fox & Friends"
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Host Ainsley Earhardt pointed out that some members of Mueller's team had donated thousands of dollars to Democrats in the past.
"This is just a witch hunt," Conway said in response, repeating a frequent criticism Trump makes towards the ongoing probe. "It's all a hoax, and now they're going in all types of different directions, but I think that the information you just shared is relevant information for America to have. People should know what folks' past and their motivations and their political motivations are. These weren't minor donations."
Conway's statements echoed repeated criticisms Trump and his allies have made against Mueller's team in an effort to paint them as biased against the president.
"The fact is that the president is concerned about conflicts that exist within the special counsel's office and any changes in the scope of the investigation," Sekulow said. "The scope is going to have to stay within his mandate. If there's drifting, we're going to object."
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Sekulow cited the Bloomberg report, which said Mueller's team was looking into, among other things, a 2008 business deal Trump made with a Russian oligarch.
Trump alsopublicly warnedMueller against investigating the Trump family's finances, saying that Mueller would be crossing a "red line" if he did so.
"We're going to see out-and-out political warfare, and not over ... Medicaid," the official told Axios.
That assessment was echoed by Matthew Miller, the former Department of Justice spokesperson under President Barack Obama, who tweeted that "we are headed for certain crisis.
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Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.
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