Giuliani says Trump shouldn't testify in the Russia investigation because 'our recollection keeps changing'
- Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that President Donald Trump should not testify in the Russia investigation because "our recollection keeps changing."
- Giuliani said that is he leaning towards not recommending Trump to interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.
Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that President Donald Trump should not testify in the Russia probe because "our recollection keeps changing" about certain incidents that the special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating - particularly a now-infamous statement explaining a 2016 Trump Tower meeting.
Giuliani made the remark when he was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC News about the differing explanations for a misleading July 8, 2017 statement from Donald Trump, Jr. regarding the Trump Tower meeting he held with a Russian lawyer and other Trump campaign officials in June 2016.
Trump's lawyers and the White House had previously denied that Trump dictated the statement, declaring that Trump Jr. wrote it himself. But in a 20-page memo to Mueller, which was obtained and published by The New York Times on Saturday, Trump's lawyers admitted that Trump himself dictated the statement.
"This is the reason you don't let the president testify," Giuliani said, when Stephanopoulos asked him to explain the contradiction. "Our recollection keeps changing, or we're not even asked a question and somebody makes an assumption."
When asked if he is recommending Trump not to interview with Mueller, Giuliani said, "I want to keep an open mind, and I have to just be honest: We're leaning toward not."
But Giuliani also said in an interview with NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press" that Trump wants to testify because he believes he is innocent, though "every lawyer he has - including this one - always wants their client not to testify."
Giuliani also made a number of other explosive comments during his media appearances on Sunday, including remarking that Trump "probably" has the power to pardon himself, and that shutting down Mueller's investigation could lead to the president being impeached.