Screenshot/CNN
Rudy Giuliani.
- President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had a marathon CNN interview Friday morning.
- He discussed special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, said a president could get in trouble for obstruction of justice, and said he and Trump did not know for sure whether there was an FBI informant embedded in the Trump campaign.
- Earlier this week, Giuliani told us he felt the president's financial disclosure 'vindicates' their position regarding the Michael Cohen payment.
- And he told us that, even if Trump knew about the controversial June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, he probably wouldn't have remembered something so minor at the time.
President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said in a marathon 45-minute interview with CNN on Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller agreed to narrow the scope of a potential interview with the president.
The former New York City mayor and US attorney also said a president could get in trouble for obstructing justice, that he and the president did not know for sure whether there was an FBI informant embedded in the Trump campaign, and compared Trump's potential interview with Mueller to businesswoman Martha Stewart's infamous interview with law enforcement that led to her brief imprisonment.
First, Giuliani claimed that Mueller agreed to limit the scope of that potential interview with Trump from five topics to two, telling CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day" that Mueller is not considering asking questions about his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is under criminal investigation in New York for possible campaign finance violations and bank fraud.
Giuliani said "the main focus we want is Russia."
A president can obstruct justice, Giuliani said
Asked if he believes a president can obstruct justice, which Trump's former attorney John Dowd said cannot be the case, Giuliani said "he can," but added that firing a subordinate official such as former FBI Director James Comey does not constitute obstruction because someone will immediately replace them on an acting basis and any such investigation would continue.
"But it's why you fired them," Cuomo said. "Corrupt intent. It's part of the legal analysis."
Giuliani said that doesn't matter "if in fact it can't result in anything."
"The investigation continued," he said. "The investigation expanded."
An FBI informant? Giuliani says he and Trump don't know 'for sure'
Moving on to the idea of an FBI informant embedded in the Trump campaign, Giuliani said he was told "off the record" that there was at least one Department of Justice informant embedded in the campaign. But, he admitted that he and the president have no idea if it's true.
Associated Press/Evan Vucci
Donald Trump.
Trump has tweeted about such an informant multiple times in recent days.
"Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president," Trump wrote Friday morning. "It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a 'hot' Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!"
'The president is not going to lie. Let's get that straight'
Circling back to the potential interview with Mueller, Giuliani said Trump has nothing to lie about because he "had nothing to do with Russians" but because investigators may take Comey's word over Trump's, he believes they could be trying to lure the president into some sort of perjury trap.
"Look, it's like Martha Stewart," Giuliani said of the insider trading case involving Stewart last decade. "Martha Stewart never would've gone to jail if she hadn't gone and testified."
"She lied!" Cuomo fired back. "Lying is black and white."
"It isn't black and white," Giuliani responded. "The president is not going to lie. Let's get that straight. The president is going to tell [the truth] because I've gone over the whole thing, I've investigated the whole thing. There's nothing to lie about."