Giuliani on CNN: 'I Never Said There Was No Collusion'

Between Trump campaign and Russia; Giuliani insists Trump himself has committed no crime
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2019 6:33 AM CST
Updated Jan 17, 2019 6:53 AM CST

Some are wondering "what shoe may be about to drop" in Robert Mueller's Russia probe after an appearance on CNN Wednesday evening by President Trump's personal lawyer. The Hill reports that Rudy Giuliani showed up to chat with the network's Chris Cuomo, and Giuliani had some "remarkable" words on possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, per CNN. "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign. Or between people in the campaign," Giuliani said. "I said the president of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you could commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the [DNC]." He noted that "if the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago, it's either provable or it's not, [and] it is not provable because it never happened."

Giuliani added that the concept of anyone in his client's camp obstructing justice is "really stupid" because "the investigation has come to an end and nobody's obstructed it." (Cuomo pointed out Mueller's probe doesn't actually appear to have ended). While some were baffled by Giuliani's remarks, CNN anchor Don Lemon warned there may have been "a method to this madness," with "the president's attorney, as he always does, laying out the groundwork there for what is to come." HuffPost interprets that as Lemon saying Giuliani's words were a "preemptive strike" against future stories of collusion between those in Trump's camp and Russia, and past remarks by the president and Giuliani seem to back that theory up: They've both said in the past that even if collusion happened—and Trump has insisted multiple times it hasn't—it isn't a crime. (More Rudy Giuliani stories.)

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