Rudolph Giuliani says Trump didn’t collude with Russia, but can’t vouch for campaign staff

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 an 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.

Russia investigation could spark battle to learn Robert Mueller’s findings »

Giuliani’s declarations — several of which Cuomo called out as false — quickly sent the Internet into a tailspin as many wondered what could have prompted the former New York mayor to suddenly change course.

The heated exchange 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.”

On CNN, Giuliani and Cuomo then proceeded to tangle over the president’s past statements that “nobody” associated with his campaign colluded.

“He didn’t say nobody, he said he didn’t,” Giuliani said, which Cuomo immediately pointed out was not true.

Giuliani said Thursday that his comments on CNN “have been misinterpreted” and that he wanted to clarify them.

“I represent only President Trump, not the Trump campaign,” he said in a statement. “There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In December 2017, Trump adamantly told reporters outside the White House that there was “absolutely no collusion, that has been proven.”

On Twitter, the president has been even more passionate when defending himself and his campaign, repeatedly using words such as “hoax” and “witch hunt” to describe the accusations and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s ongoing probe.

Just last month, the president tweeted, “‘Democrats can’t find a Smocking Gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey’s testimony. No Smocking Gun . . . No Collusion.’”

During the interview, Giuliani also falsely stated that the news that Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort had shared polling data with a man believed to have ties to Russian intelligence came from “leaks,” which he claimed had been done “probably unethically.” The information was inadvertently made public by Manafort’s lawyers in a poorly redacted court filing, as the Washington Post has reported.

Social media instantly exploded with reactions to the interview. Did Giuliani just admit Trump’s campaign had colluded? Were his comments foreshadowing a major development to come in the Mueller probe? Was this yet another attempt by the Trump administration to tone down its collusion denials?

By early Thursday morning, Giuliani’s name was trending on Twitter.

Some accused the lawyer of once again engaging in “goal-post moving,” described by the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake as “constantly watering down previous denials and raising the standard for what would constitute actual wrongdoing.” (Giuliani has repeatedly argued that “collusion is not a crime.”)

Others, however, saw the interview as another opportunity to poke fun at Giuliani.

On his show, which aired right after Cuomo’s, Don Lemon summed up the exchange for his viewers.

“Man, Rudy Giuliani out-Giulianied himself tonight,” Lemon said.