WASHINGTON President Donald Trump discussed pardoning former campaign chairman Paul Manafort during a White House meeting in early June, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Thursday contradicting White House statements a day earlier denying that any such discussions had taken place.

Giuliani said he initiated the meeting after Trump issued a string of pardons this spring to Scooter Libby , Dinesh DSouza , and Alice Marie Johnson , whose life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction was brought to Trumps attention by Kim Kardashian . Giuliani said those pardons raised questions about whether Trump was sending a signal to his allies caught up in special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian assistance to Trump during the 2016 election.

I decided: Lets go get an answer, Giuliani said in a phone interview with HuffPost during his Scotland golfing vacation.

At the time, more questions were coming to Giuliani from the media about potential pardons for Trumps former national security adviser Michael Flynn and personal lawyer Michael Cohen than about Manafort, but those individuals and others were discussed at the meeting, Giuliani said.

We both agreed that it made sense not to pardon anybody during the pendency of the investigation, Giuliani said. It was kind of a quick meeting.

He said Trump had every right to pardon anyone he wanted, and could well consider pardoning Manafort and others after Muellers probe is wrapped up. Giuliani said he would not speculate regarding a hypothetical scenario in which Mueller recommends impeachment and Manafort is a key witness.

He also said he had not discussed pardons with Manaforts lawyer or anyone who has been convicted or indicted in the Mueller probe. I wont entertain those conversations, he said.

One important consideration: Mueller is looking at Trumps previous pardon offers as potential evidence of obstruction of justice. Mueller had wanted to question the president about previous discussions of pardons for Manafort and Flynn, who is now cooperating with Muellers team.

Giulianis confirmation of the pardon discussion comes only a day after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that there had not been one.

Thats not something that has been up for discussion, she said. There have been no discussions at the White House on that matter.

Huckabee Sanders did not respond to a HuffPost query about her Wednesday statement. But The Washington Post reported Thursday that she provided a new statement saying: This pardon is not something being discussed in the White House and the president has not made a decision on pardoning Paul Manafort or anyone else.