Trump promised pardons for staff who broke law following his orders, former official says

Miles Taylor claims president wanted US-Mexico border closed and was willing to pardon anyone who would make it happen

Donald Trump promised pardons for any officials who broke the law carrying out his hardline immigration policies, claims a former official who has endorsed Joe Biden for president.

Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official, makes the contention in an ad set to air in some swing states on Fox News during this week's Republican National Convention. A White House official had yet to respond to a request for comment on the allegation, which Mr Taylor says centres around Mr Trump's admitted desire to shutter the US-Mexico border earlier in his term.

"It was April of 2019. We were down at the border, and the president said to the senior leadership of the Homeland Security Department behind the scenes, we should not let anyone else into the United States," Mr Taylor says in the ad.

"And even though he had been told on repeated occasions that the way he wanted to do it was illegal", he says of the president, "his response was to say, 'Do it. If you get in trouble, I'll pardon you'."

Mr Taylor's allegations follow last week's Democratic National Convention, during which presidential nominee Joe Biden and other party members spent eight hours over four nights calling Mr Trump corrupt and willing to break the law to enact his policies and get re-elected.

"‘I don’t care. ... The bins are full,'" Mr Taylor claims the president told aides when they tried convincing him that he lacked the legal authority to shutter the southern border, claiming those were Mr Trump's "exact words".

Mr Taylor gave his account to the group Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT).

Part of Mr Trump's goal during the final three nights of the RNC is to convince some Republican voters in the suburbs to come back to the red column after tiring of his antics.