President Donald Trump's hint that a pardon could be forthcoming for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Monday's joint question-and-answer session with reporters at Mar-a-Lago greatly intrigued CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene.
Netanyahu, the far-right on-again, off-again Prime Minister and head of the Likud Party, is a close international ally of Trump, who wants a resolution to the two-year-long war in Gaza that he can take credit for brokering. The prime minister has also faced a years-long criminal prosecution for bribery, and Trump has previously demanded Israeli President Isaac Herzog shut down the case, much the way Trump has shut down criminal investigations into himself and his political allies.
Despite Trump's claims, Herzog insists he is still considering the matter and hasn't made a decision.
"One of the other things that I found fascinating was someone actually asked President Trump about a pardon for Netanyahu," said Treene. "This has, obviously, been a huge topic of conversation. The president had previously, while in Israel, said that he was going to be calling for that. And what Trump said there was that he had spoken to the Israeli president, different, of course, from the prime minister, which is Netanyahu. And he said that it was on that. The president tells Trump that it's on the way."
"Very fascinating indeed, especially something, of course, music to to Netanyahu's ears, I'm sure, as one of the big things for him coming into this meeting today is making sure the support for Israel from the United States is as strong as ever, and the support for him specifically because next year, Netanyahu has elections in Israel," Treene continued. "Having Trump's backing is going to be so crucial. So a lot of key things that they talked about today."
This comes as some turbulence has emerged in recent months between Trump and Netanyahu, with the president reportedly losing his cool with Netanyahu in private over how he is publicly characterizing progress on a peace deal.
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