US President Donald Trump has said he may pardon boxing legend Muhammad Ali for a draft-dodging conviction, even though it has already been overturned.
Mr Trump told reporters before he left the White House for the G7 summit that he was “thinking about” the late boxer and some others “very seriously”.
Ali was convicted in 1967 after refusing to fight in the Vietnam War.
But a lawyer for his family said it was “unnecessary” as Ali was pardoned by the Supreme Court in 1971.
“We appreciate President Trump’s sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary. The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971,” said Ali’s lawyer Ron Tweel in a statement.
“There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed.”
Mr Trump reportedly said Ali, who died in 2016, was one of 3,000 people he was considering pardoning, saying many of these people “have been treated unfairly”.
“I’m thinking about Muhammad Ali. I’m thinking about that very seriously and some others,” the president said.
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