Trump says Netanyahu should be pardoned for corruption

Washington: US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should ⁠receive a pardon for corruption charges, saying ⁠Israeli President Isaac Herzog should ‌be "ashamed of himself" ​for not granting one.

Here are the details:

* Trump said Netanyahu has been a great wartime prime minister and that Israeli people should ​shame Herzog ⁠for not pardoning him. "He's disgraceful for not giving it. He should give it," Trump said during a White ⁠House event.

* Netanyahu ‌met Trump in Washington on Wednesday - the seventh meeting between the two ‌leaders since Trump took office last year - ⁠for talks about reaching a deal on Iran's nuclear program and ‌its ballistic missiles.

* Netanyahu is Israel's ‌first sitting prime minister to be charged with ‌a crime and denies bribery, ‌fraud and breach of trust charges dating back to his 2019 indictment.

* Trump has publicly urged ⁠the Israeli ⁠president to pardon Netanyahu several times, and said in late December that Herzog had told him the pardon was on its way. Herzog's office was quick to dispute it.

* Under Israeli law, the president has ​authority to pardon convicts. But there is no ​precedent for ​issuing a pardon mid-trial.