Bombshell Report Says Trump Promised to Pardon His Entire Staff

(Alex Brandon/AP photo)

President Donald Trump has promised to pardon his White House staffers, reported the Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey in an exclusive report on Friday.

Dawsey, the veteran DC reporter, cited “people who have heard his comments” in the bombshell report revealing that Trump is asking his staff to operate with a sense of impunity.

“I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval,” Trump reportedly told staffers “in a recent meeting to laughs.” Dawsey added:

That radius appears to be expanding as the president repeats the line. Another person who met with Trump earlier this year said the president quipped about pardoning anyone who had come within 10 feet.

In one conversation with advisers in the dining room next to the Oval Office last year, Trump said he would host a news conference and announce mass pardons before he left office, some of the people said. The people said they weren’t aware of specific pardons being offered to specific people for specific acts.

Trump has sparked controversy and fury from critics with his pardons during his second term so far, which have included a violent drug kingpin and a blanket pardon for January 6th rioters — including those who attacked law enforcement.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, dismissed Trump’s comments in a statement, saying, “The Wall Street Journal should learn to take a joke, however, the President’s pardon power is absolute.”

This is a developing story and has been updated.

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