President
Donald Trump’s lawyer flatly admitted that the White House is waging a fierce information campaign against special counsel
Robert Mueller and his investigation into
Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
The aim: to delegitimize the probe in the eyes of voters and lawmakers in Congress.
Rudy Giuliani, asked about the near-daily attacks on the probe, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, “They are giving us the material. I couldn’t do it if I didn’t have the material. ... It is for public opinion.”
“Because eventually, the decision here is going to be: impeach, [or] not impeach,” he continued. “Members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are going to be informed a lot by their constituents. So our jury ... is the American people. And the American people ... Republicans largely, independents pretty substantially, and even Democrats now question the legitimacy of it.”
Trump in recent days has ratcheted up his attacks against the Russia investigation, the Justice Department and the FBI. He has claimed that the FBI had “infiltrated” and “spied” on his 2016 presidential campaign when the agency reportedly used an informant to make contact with Trump campaign advisers who allegedly had suspicious contacts linked to Russia. He also demanded the Justice Department investigate the accusations and turn over any relevant documents to Congress.
Meanwhile, Democrats who attended a classified briefing about the informant with top DOJ officials last week said they saw “no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign.” Top Republicans who also attended the briefing have remained silent, however.
Asked Sunday by CNN’s Dana Bash whether he believed the
Russia probe is legitimate, Giuliani said, “Not anymore.”
“I did when I came in, but now I see Spygate,” Giuliani said, using Trump’s preferred term for describing revelations that an FBI informant made contact with two of his campaign advisers as part of the investigation into Russia’s meddling.
“I know 50 years of investigatory experience tells me they don’t have a darn thing because they would’ve used it already and they wouldn’t be off on collusion, they wouldn’t be off on Manafort, they wouldn’t be off on Cohen,” Giuliani added.