Lawyer for Muhammad Ali Rejects Trump's 'Unnecessary' Offer to Pardon the Late Boxer

Elizabeth Preza
and
 AlterNet
June 08, 2018

An attorney for Muhammad Ali on Friday dismissed Donald Trump’s suggestion he may pardon the late boxer, noting there's no crime for the president to pardon.

Trump told reporters he’s looking at “thousands of names” of people he could pardon, adding he’s “thinking about Muhammad Ali.”

“I’m thinking about that very seriously and some others,” Trump added.

Ron Tweel, an attorney for Ali, released a statement saying they “appreciate” the president’s “sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary.”

“The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 197,” Tweel wrote. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed.”

Ali, a conscientious objector of the Vietnam War, was convicted of resisting the draft in June 1967. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971.

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