President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said “there’s nothing wrong” with a presidential campaign taking information from the Russians.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” host Jake Tapper brought up the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, which Giuliani dismissed.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians. It depends on where it came from,” Giuliani said. “You’re assuming that the giving of information is a campaign contribution. Read the report carefully. The report says we can’t conclude that because the law is pretty much against that. People get information from this person, that person.”
Still, Giuliani said he “probably wouldn’t” have recommended it due to “an excess of caution.”
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians,” Rudy Giuliani tells @jaketapper. #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Fe78m3aDWq pic.twitter.com/wfcU38vTWX
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 21, 2019
The Trump Tower meeting between members of Trump’s inner circle, including his son Donald Trump Jr. and Natalia Veselnitskaya, an attorney with ties to the Kremlin who had predicated the meet up with the promise of dirt on Clinton. This and other interactions between the Trump campaign and the Russians were investigated by Mueller’s team.
Mueller’s report, released in redacted form on Thursday, found no conspiracy.
Giualini argued campaigns seeking dirt on their opponents is nothing new.
He called Sen. Mitt Romney a “hypocrite” after the Utah Republican said he was “sickened” by the actions of Trump and his campaign detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted report, Giuliani said during the 2012 election, when he and Romney were primary rivals, digging up dirt on an opponent was something Romney did.
Giuliani also said there were people on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign talking to the Ukrainians.
