President Donald Trump's lawyer, John Dowd, floated the possibility last year with lawyers for former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort that the President might issue pardons for both men, The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing three individuals with knowledge of the discussions.
The conversations happened as special counsel Robert Mueller "was building cases against both men," the Times reported, which raises "questions about whether the lawyer, John Dowd, was offering pardons to influence their decisions about whether to plead guilty and cooperate in the investigation" into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The Times reported that Robert Kelner, whom the newspaper identifies as Flynn's lawyer, and Reginald Brown, Manafort's attorney at the time, declined to comment on the report.
It is not clear if Dowd spoke with the President about the prospect of pardoning Flynn and Manafort prior to discussing the possibility with their lawyers, according to the Times.
But the President discussed the subject of presidential pardons in a meeting with lawyers with the White House Counsel's office, the Times reports, citing a person who was briefed on what was discussed during the meeting.