President Trump said Friday that he’s thinking about pardoning deceased boxing legend and civil rights activist Muhammad Ali.
Trump told reporters that he was thinking “very seriously” about pardoning him.
“He wasn’t very popular then, he certainly is, his memory is very popular now,” he said. “I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali, I’m thinking about that very seriously.”
Ali was convicted in 1967 of draft evasion. The Supreme Court would overturn his conviction in 1971.
Trump said he was considering a number of other pardons too and said that the pardoning power was “a beautiful thing” for presidents.
Earlier this week, Trump commuted the life sentence for Alice Marie Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for a first-time nonviolent drug offense, after a high-profile campaign for clemency by reality television star Kim Kardashian West.
Last week, Trump pardoned conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. He also floated potentially commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning Martha Stewart.
In May, Trump granted a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, after being urged to do so by “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone.
