Presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani sought to clarify recent comments on potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election.
In a Thursday morning statement to reporters, Giuliani said, “I can speak only to the president, not the campaign,” adding, “There is no collusion by President Trump in any way shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”
“The only knowledge I have in this regard is the collusion of the Clinton campaign with Russia which has so far been ignored,” the presidential attorney continued. (RELATED: Trump Flatly Denies Michael Cohen’s Claims In Court)
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 30: Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and current lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump, speaks to members of the media during a White House Sports and Fitness Day at the South Lawn of the White House May 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign. Or between people in the campaign,” Giuliani said to CNN Wednesday evening. Giuliani’s comments ignited a firestorm of speculation as to whether he was attempting to foreshadow further developments from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
.@RudyGiuliani allows for the possibility of collusion with the campaign while saying it didn’t happen.
“If the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago. It’s either provable or it’s not. It’s not provable because it never happened…. there’s no chance it happened.” pic.twitter.com/gZKZGRksdN
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) January 17, 2019
Giuliani has appeared on cable TV before to preview or admit damaging information related to Trump, including revealing a payment Trump made to a woman alleging an affair with him. Giuliani maintained that the payment was personal in nature, though his former personal attorney Michael Cohen is claiming that it was a campaign-related expense.
Cohen has made these claims to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which could put Trump in legal jeopardy.