Israeli PM Netanyahu turns to president for pardon in ongoing trial

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00:00Well, far be it for me to be a prime ministerial psychologist, Will, but I can tell you what we

00:07have seen today, which is really extremely dramatic. Prime Minister Netanyahu, as you said,

00:13he has been on trial now for many years, four or five years. Most of the delays have been incurred

00:20because he himself has requested delays. Prime Minister Netanyahu has for a very long time

00:25put himself in the paradoxical situation in which, on the one hand, he persuaded the Supreme Court to

00:33allow him to run for office despite being an indicted criminal by explaining that he would

00:39have no problem appearing at trial and testifying at trial while running the country and since then

00:46has turned around and said, as he does again today, it is impossible for me to testify so many times a

00:52week and run the country. It can't be done. What he is saying in today's extraordinary request for a

01:00pardon, while his trial is still underway, he's saying this is pulling the country apart. It is

01:07in the public interest. He's saying to Israelis, it's on you. It is for you that I'm requesting

01:13this pardon. And he says explicitly in a statement of pre-taped video statement he just put out, he

01:19says, actually, it is in his interest, he says, to continue this trial, to pursue it, because he's

01:26completely innocent. And he says, in fact, those who pursued him engaged in crimes so as to attack

01:33him. However, he says in the public interest, let's cancel this trial and allow me to return to my full

01:40duties as prime minister. Now, what more can you tell us about the trials?

01:47The trial is very complicated. As you indicated, it involves several different charges and they

01:54include bribery and breach of trust. Very serious charges also include fraud. Most of the cases in

02:02which Prime Minister Netanyahu was indicted involve his efforts on multiple fronts over many years

02:09to take over the Israeli media sphere, to take control of it, to offer, for example,

02:16regulatory advantages, illegal regulatory advantages, it is alleged, to friends of his who

02:23owned major media companies. Excuse me. He is accused also of using the offices of the Prime Minister of

02:31the state to give personal favors to billionaire friends who could then compensate him with gifts

02:38such as jewelry for his wife, cigars, champagne, a lavish lifestyle. So it is a complex, multiplicitous

02:46trial. And Netanyahu has been providing his own testimony, but really reluctantly in recent weeks.

02:52In other words, requesting that his sessions providing testimony be shortened, always saying that there's

02:59a diplomatic or security reason behind it, basically saying it is impossible for him to continue

03:04this trial. However, let's add, it has never happened in the history of the state of Israel

03:11that anybody still on trial has requested or gotten a pardon. Israeli law, as it stands,

03:18holds that you have to be a convicted criminal to be able to be pardoned.

03:23And so what are his chances here, Noga?

03:29That's the bajillion dollar question right now. Immense pressure is being put on Israeli Prime

03:36Minister, excuse me, on Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the man who would grant this pardon.

03:43Prime Minister Netanyahu said something extraordinary, in a way, about his chances in his videotape statement.

03:50He said, you know, again, not just is he doing this just for the good of the public, he said,

03:55but he's doing it also for Donald Trump, who has requested that he be pardoned. How could the

04:01President of Israel, he says, ignore a personal request from the President of the United States?

04:07Now, we know, of course, from President Trump's mouth, we know that it was Netanyahu who asked him,

04:14Trump, to request this pardon on his behalf. So we really are very much in an echo chamber.

04:20here. The President, while President, cannot act completely alone. This will have to go through

04:27the pardons branch of the Justice Ministry. This decision will be subject to judicial review in

04:33any event. So my legal sources are saying, and I'm quoting now some Jerusalem lawyers, that this

04:40pardon request is a joke, implying he wouldn't have many chances. But Israel is being torn apart from

04:47within. The Prime Minister is attempting to crush the Israeli judiciary, so as to avoid this trial.

04:54And so honestly, Will, I think anything.

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