Trump didn’t know about campaigners’ Russia link, says Giuliani
DONALD Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said the US president did not know beforehand about a 2016 meeting between his campaign and Russians, as Mr Trump’s former attorney is reportedly ready to tell prosecutors.
Mr Giuliani said those who were allegedly present when Mr Trump learned about the meeting also deny he knew about it.
The meeting has become a central focus of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether anyone within Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia’s meddling in the last US presidential election.
“It’s just flat-out untrue,” Mr Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ about the claims.
CNN reported last Thursday that Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is prepared to tell federal investigators that Mr Trump knew and approved of the Trump Tower meeting where a Russian lawyer with links to the Kremlin was expected to deliver damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
The meeting was attended by the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, as well as Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Mr Trump’s campaign, and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“It seems to me his default position is to lie,” Mr Giuliani said of Mr Cohen, who in May he said was an “honest, honourable lawyer”.
In a separate interview on CBS, Mr Giuliani said he was aware of “something like 183 unique conversations on tape” from Mr Cohen. Mr Trump is on one tape discussing a possible payment to Karen McDougal, who said she had an affair with him, and another “11 or 12 others” in which Mr Trump is discussed. (© Washington Post)