US President Donald Trump asserted Monday that President Isaac Herzog was about to issue a pardon for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, prompting an immediate denial from Herzog’s office.

Speaking during his meeting in Florida with Netanyahu, Trump said he believed a pardon was on the way: “How can you not?” he said. “He’s a wartime prime minister who’s a hero. How do you not give a pardon?”

Trump then claimed that he “spoke to the president, and he tells me it’s on its way. You can’t do better than that, right?”

But the office of Herzog — who has been weighing granting Netanyahu a pardon in his more than five-year criminal trial since an official request was submitted a month ago — denied making any such comment to the US president.

“There has not been a conversation between President Herzog and President Trump since the pardon request was submitted,” Herzog’s office said in a statement issued just a few minutes after Trump’s comments.

It said that the Israeli president spoke several weeks ago with “a representative on behalf of President Trump, who inquired about the US president’s letter,” referring to a November letter Trump sent to Herzog formally urging him to pardon Netanyahu.

During that conversation, “an explanation was provided regarding the stage of the process in which........

© The Times of Israel