Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that there’s “no chance” President Trump colluded with the Russians — but he can’t say the same about his campaign aides.
“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign… I have not. I said the President of the United States,” Pres. Trump’s attorney @RudyGiuliani tells @ChrisCuomo https://t.co/Jy0gttT6Ac pic.twitter.com/JGISmtgrdy
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) 17 January 2019
The New York Post reports:
Speaking to CNN’s Chris Cuomo, the former New York City mayor claimed he “never said there was no collusion” between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, only that Trump wasn’t the one doing the colluding.
“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign,” Giuliani insisted. “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 can commit here — conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC.”
The comments came after Cuomo said it would be “false reporting” to say there’s been “no suggestion of any kind of collusion between [Trump’s] campaign and any Russians.”
“Nobody colluded? The guy running his campaign was working on an issue at the same time as the convention,” the CNN host said, referencing Paul Manafort.
“[Trump] said he didn’t, he didn’t say ‘nobody,’ ” replied Giuliani. To which Cuomo fired back, “He actually did say that, Rudy. He said ‘nobody’ and then said, ‘As far as I know.’”
“Well, I never said that…[and] as far as he knows, that’s true,” Giuliani asserted. “As far as the president knows, and as far as I know.”
Giuliani, who is serving as Trump’s lawyer, went on to say that if there was any collusion, “it happened a long time ago.”
“It’s not provable because it never happened,” Giuliani added. “I’m telling you there’s no chance it happened.”
Asked if Manafort’s alleged sharing of polling data with Russian national Konstantin Kilimnik could be considered collusion, Giuliani replied “no” and once again defended the president — saying, “Donald Trump wasn’t giving polling data to anyone.”
“He did not know about it until it was revealed a few weeks ago in an article,” Giuliani
added.
H/T nypost.com