Trump says he's considering posthumous pardon for boxing legend Muhammad Ali
President Donald Trump spoke on a number of topics related to sports on Friday before departing for the G-7 Summit in Canada.
He mentioned that the NBA champions, who could be crowned as soon as Friday night, would not receive an invitation to visit the White House.
Trump also said he wants to meet with NFL players who knelt during the anthem so that they could recommend people they know that were treated unfairly by the justice system. He said he would then consider offering pardons for those individuals.
The president also commented on a possible pardon for legendary heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who died this week in 2016.
President Trump on possible pardon: "I'm thinking about Muhammad Ali" https://t.co/aQdP2xNEe9 pic.twitter.com/0vy68DoCLK
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 8, 2018
“I’m thinking about somebody that you all know very well and he went through a lot. And he wasn’t very popular then,” Trump said. “He certainly, his memory is very popular now. I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali.”
Midway through that comment, a reporter asked if Trump was speaking about O.J. Simpson. Trump stopped talking about Ali for a second and said to that media member, “No, I’m not thinking about O.J. Only you could say O.J.”
It’s not clear why Trump is even considering pardoning Ali as the three-time champ has no criminal record.
He infamously refused to be drafted into the military in 1966 and had his heavyweight title stripped as a result. Ali cited his Muslim religious beliefs as his reason and called himself a “conscientious objector” to the Vietnam War.
The Supreme Court eventually overturned Ali’s draft conviction in 1971, a fact that Ali’s attorney, Ron Tweel, called to Trump’s attention Friday.
“We appreciate President Trump’s sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary,” Tweel said in a statement via CBS Sports. “The U.S Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971. There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed.”
Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star also pointed out that then-President Jimmy Carter essentially pardoned Ali and all draft evaders back in 1977.
Trump’s idea to pardon Muhammad Ali is confusing. The Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971. And in 1977 Jimmy Carter granted a blanket pardon to draft evaders.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 8, 2018
Trump’s consideration for an Ali pardon comes just weeks after the president posthumously pardoned another all-time great pugilist, Jack Johnson.
Johnson, who Ali once called “The Greatest,” was convicted in 1913 for violating the Mann Act, which prosecuted men for premarital, extramarital or interracial relationships, even if consensual.
Johnson had received support from many in the boxing community for the pardon, including former heavyweight champions Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, as well as boxing filmmaker Sylvester Stallone.
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