Donald Trump mulls posthumously pardoning Boxer Muhammad Ali

Courtesy: Twitter

Washington: US President Donald Trump said that he was considering posthumously pardoning the late boxer Muhammad Ali, who was convicted in 1967 after refusing military service in Vietnam.

"I`m thinking about Muhammad Ali. I`m thinking about that very seriously and some others," Trump said on Friday while speaking to reporters at the White House before departing for the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada. 

Trump said that the legendary boxer is just one of 3,000 names he`s considering pardoning, because "many of those names really have been treated unfairly".

Ali`s attorney, Ron Tweel, told CNN later on Friday that there was no contact whatsoever between anyone in the Trump administration and members of the Ali family about the issue.

"So, it`s not like for weeks or days the administration has reached out to the Ali family. None of that," he told CNN. 

"This was all spontaneous and I think, as a lot of people like to say, impulsive."

In an earlier statement, Tweel said that although he appreciated Trump`s sentiment, a "pardon is unnecessary".

"The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed," he said.