WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- A news anchor who interviewed U.S. President Donald Trump recently said Wednesday evening that the president is considering pardoning Paul Manafort, his former campaign manager who was convicted of bank and tax fraud.
"He mentioned pardoning Manafort," Ainsley Earhardt said on Fox News' Hannity Show, which Trump is known to watch frequently.
"I think he feels bad for Manafort. They were friends, he didn't work for him (Trump) very long, worked for him for basically 100 days," she told the show's host Sean Hannity, who has close ties to the president.
The interview is scheduled to air Thursday morning.
Although Trump has not yet openly signaled he would issue a pardon, a number of Republican lawmakers have warned against the move.
"It would be an enormous mistake and misuse of his power to (issue a) pardon," Senator Susan Collins of Maine told the press.
Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a pardon would damage the presidency.
Manafort, who was Trump's campaign manager during the 2016 presidential campaign, was found guilty Tuesday on five counts of filing false income-tax returns, one count of failing to report foreign bank accounts, and two counts of bank fraud.
Failing to report foreign bank accounts carries a maximum sentence of five years, and each count of bank fraud can lead up to 30 years in prison.
The trial was seen as a victory for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose team has been probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which is accused of meddling in the 2016 election.
