Exclusive: Trump demands immediate pardon for Netanyahu to focus on Iran

President Trump told Axios on Thursday that Israeli President Isaac Herzog must pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "today" — calling Herzog "a disgrace" for failing to act over the last year.

"Every day I talk to Bibi about the war. I want him to focus on the war and not on the f*cking court case. I want the only pressure on Bibi to be the fighting against Iran," Trump said in a phone interview.
Why it matters: Trump has been pushing for a Netanyahu pardon since last June, arguing that his trial on corruption charges — ongoing since 2020 — is a "witch hunt" akin to the U.S. president's own legal troubles.
But Thursday's comments — which Trump raised himself, unprompted — marked a dramatic escalation and direct intervention in Israel's legal system at a moment of active war.
What he is saying: "The president ... should give Bibi the pardon today. I don't want anything on Bibi's mind other than fighting against Iran," Trump told Axios.

Trump claimed Herzog promised him five times over the past year that he would grant the pardon and never followed through. "He told me he would give it to him. But he has held it over Bibi's head for a year."
"Tell him I am exposing him. That president better damn well give him the pardon right now — and stop using it as leverage for his own political career," he said.
The other side: A senior Israeli official pushed back on Trump's account, saying Herzog never promised a pardon.

Herzog told Trump advisers Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff and U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee that he would consider the request in line with legal procedures, the official said.
"At a time when we are all mobilized, the President is not dealing with the issue of a pardon for Prime Minister Netanyahu," Herzog's office said in a statement.

The statement praised Trump as "the leader of the free world" and "a central ally of Israel" — before delivering a pointed rebuke: "Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law."