Rudy Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...45a:homepage/story-ans&utm_term=.d4ab9461114b
Rudolph W. Giuliani claimed Wednesday night that he “never said there was no collusion” between President Trump’s campaign and Russia leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
In a remarkable, at times contentious,
interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, the president’s lawyer was accused of contradicting his own past statements about collusion as well as what Trump and his supporters have repeatedly asserted. On Twitter, Trump has
used the phrase “no collusion” dozens of times, and a number of those instances were direct denials that his campaign was involved with the Russian government.
Giuliani’s shocking declarations — several of which Cuomo called out as being false — quickly sent the Internet into a tailspin as many
wondered what could have prompted the former New York mayor to suddenly change course.
Rudy Giuliani: "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign."
Rudy, tell us what you know...
https://t.co/AhBAFEpjPQ
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter)
January 17, 2019
[Rudy Giuliani just obliterated the goal posts on Trump-Russia collusion]
The heated exchange, one of many that occurred during the roughly 20-minute long interview, began shortly after Giuliani raged about the amount of “false reporting” on the Russia investigation.
“Mr. Mayor, false reporting is saying that nobody in the campaign had any contacts with Russia,” Cuomo responded. “False reporting is saying that there has been no suggestion of any kind of collusion between the campaign and any Russians.”
Giuliani jumped in.
“You just misstated my position,” Giuliani said. “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign.”
Cuomo’s face contorted into an expression of disbelief. “Yes, you have,” he shot back.
As recently as July, Giuliani was
asked by Fox News contributor Guy Benson, “Regardless of whether collusion would be a crime, is it still the position of you and your client that there was no collusion with the Russians whatsoever on behalf of the Trump campaign?”
“Correct,” Giuliani responded at the time.
But on Wednesday, Giuliani appeared to amend his previous comments on the subject.
“I said the president of the United States,” he protested, arguing that he had only ever said Trump himself was not connected to any Russian meddling in the 2016 election. “There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack the DNC.”
