U.S. President Donald Trump has refused to rule out the possibility of pardoning his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
“It was never discussed, but I wouldn’t take it off the table,” Trump told the New York Post on Wednesday. “Why would I take it off the table?”
Trump’s comments come a day after Manafort was accused by Robert Mueller, special counsel for the investigation into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, of violating his plea agreement by lying to investigators.
They also come a day after White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said there had been no discussions about a prospective presidential pardon for Manafort.
WATCH: Mueller says ex-Trump campaign head Manafort lied to FBI
Manafort agreed to a plea deal after being found guilty of financial crimes in August. The charges were related to crimes committed prior to Manafort joining the Trump campaign.
At the time, the New York Times reported that Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani had discussed the political ramifications of a pardon for Manafort, but Giuliani told the Times that Trump was not actively considering a pardon.
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However, Manafort’s cooperation agreement with Mueller unraveled , prosecutors say, after he repeatedly lied to investigators, an allegation Manafort denies.
READ MORE: 5 common questions about the dissolution of the Manafort plea deal
Without a pardon, Manafort could spend the rest of his life in prison, experts said.
However, the development has also prompted speculation that the 69-year-old may be seeking to curry favour with Trump or protecting other campaign figures.
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The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee says a presidential pardon would constitute a “blatant and unacceptable abuse of power.”
In a tweet, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said the presidential pardon power is not some “personal tool” that Trump can use to protect “himself and his friends.”
READ MORE: Ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks’ Assange deny ‘secret talks’
Manafort is of interest to Mueller because he joined the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., senior advisor Jared Kushner and a Russian lawyer for a meeting at Trump Tower, which Trump Jr. had been told was part of a Russian government effort to aid the Trump campaign.
Manafort was also Trump’s campaign chair when the then-candidate made public remarks of interest to Mueller, including his July 2016 invitation for Russia to hack Democrat Hillary Clinton to find 30,000 missing emails.
In his remarks to the New York Post on Wednesday, Trump accused Mueller of pressuring Manafort and former Trump aide Roger Stone to tell lies.
“If you told the truth, you go to jail,” Trump told the New York Post, accusing Mueller’s approach of being akin to McCarthyism.
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— With files from the Associated Press and Reuters
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