By Sheetal Sukhija, New York Statesman
19 Jan 2019, 01:10 GMT+10
WASHINGTON, U.S. - In a shocking about-face, the U.S. President Donald Trump's top lawyer Rudy Giuliani has changed his stance on the alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign.
Despite the conclusions drawn by U.S. intelligence agencies, that have said that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election campaign to bolster Trump's side, both Trump and his lead lawyer have repeatedly and publicly denied any collusion.
However, this week, in an interview with CNN, Giuliani retreated from his previous statements.
Trump's personal attorney said that he had no idea whether any aides colluded with Moscow during the time of the election.
Giuliani clarified during the interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo that there's "no chance" that Trump colluded with the Russians, but added that he can't say the same about the President's campaign aides.
The former New York City mayor, who has been one of Trump's earliest supporters, said that he "never said there was no collusion" between Russia and the Trump campaign during the election.
He pointed out that he has only stated that Trump wasn't the one doing the colluding.
Giuliani claimed, "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. I said the president of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC (Democratic National Committee)."
During the 2016 Presidential election, DNC servers were hacked and emails exchanged between the teams were released publicly.
Later, confirming his statement during the interview, Giuliani repeated, "The president did not collude with the Russians," and pointed out that he only represented Trump.
Giuliani said, "I know the president wasnt involved in collusion. How would I know about anybody else? I wouldnt know."
So far, federal prosecutors leading a probe into the alleged collusion, have charged over 30 people as part of their probe, including Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Over two dozen Russian individuals and entities have already been charged as part of the investigation being led by the Justice Department appointed Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.
Ever since the probe was initiated, Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and has called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt."
Meanwhile, Russia has also denied any meddling in the election.
'Polling data shared'
Last week, CNN quoted sources as revealing that while serving as Trump's campaign chairman, Manafort tried to send internal polling data from the Trump campaign with two Kremlin-supporting Ukrainian oligarchs.
The sources quoted in the report claimed that Manafort sent this data through his associate Konstantin Kilimnik, who is a Russian national linked to Russian intelligence.
Commenting on the report, Giuliani said in the interview that Trump never shared the polling data himself and only found out about it recently in the news.
Trump's top lawyer added, "Donald Trump wasn't giving polling data to anyone. He did not know about it until it was revealed a few weeks ago in an article."
Following the interview, Cuomo commented on Twitter through the show handle, Cuomo Prime Time that "Giuliani allows for the possibility of collusion with the campaign while saying it didn't happen."
It quoted Giuliani as saying, "If the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago. It's either provable or it's not. It's not provable because it never happened.... there's no chance it happened."
Get a daily dose of New York Statesman news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to New York Statesman.
More InformationWARSAW, Poland - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence zeroed in onĀ Iran on Thursday when he addressed Polish Prime Minister Mateusz ...
Turkeys Downward Spiral The New York Times As Presidents Trump and Erdogan feud, the alliance between the United States and ...
Trumps Decision to Withdraw From Syria Is Alarming. Just Ask His Advisers. The New York Times This isn't the first ...
We recommend Beto O'Rourke for U.S. Senate Dallas News When, in the course of human events, a people become so ...
Hemp Legal Again in the United States GoDanRiver.com George Washington was many things the general who led the Continental Army ...
Texan of the Year finalist: The U.S. Border Patrol agent Dallas News As Texans, we are inextricably linked to our ...
GENEVA, Switzerland - An international humanitarian and medical aid organisation operating in Syria has denounced the shelling of civilian areas ...
CAIRO, Egypt - Just days after foreign ministers from Arab nations sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in ...
LONDON, UK - Seven Labour Party MPs have resigned from the party to form their own group with shared policies, ...
Diehard jihadists have blocked roads out of the last scrap of their Islamic State group "caliphate" in Syria, US-backed forces ...
Sexual violence in South Sudan has been rampant, prompting a call from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, for urgent ...
CO. ARMAGH, Northern Ireland - An explosion at a house in Craigavon, Co. Armagh, in Northern Ireland on Saturday night ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - Following its successful acquisition of Hollywood-based Blindlight, Irish video-gaming company Keywords Studios has now announced its latest accomplishment. Keywords r ...
Read More