Giuliani says Mueller investigation ‘rigged’
WASHINGTON —Donald Trump’s lawyer again questioned the legitimacy of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election as a possible interview of Trump by the special counsel.
“We’re more convinced as we see it that this is a rigged investigation,” Rudy Giuliani said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Nation.” Asked if he sees the investigation as legitimate, Giuliani, who joined Trump’s legal team in mid-April, replied: “Not any more. I don’t. I did when it came in.”
Giuliani is seeking a readout of the classified information Justice Department officials shared with lawmakers Thursday about the origins of the FBI investigation into Russian meddling. Trump has made an unsubstantiated claim that an informant who contacted advisers to his 2016 campaign was a political “spy.”
“It should be very easy to brief us,” Giuliani said. “The White House has every right to know, the president has every right to know as commander-in-chief.”
Giuliani has taken those claims further, arguing in an interview with the Associated Press Friday that what Trump has called dubbed “Spygate” might make Mueller’s investigation illegitimate. He also said former FBI Director James Comey was guilty of an illegal leak when he directed a friend to provide the contents of memos about his interactions with Trump to the media in May 2017, which led to bipartisan calls for a special counsel in the Russia investigation.
“The whole thing was a mistake and should never have happened,” Giuliani told the Associated Press, adding that the Justice Department should acknowledge the error.
Giuliani said Sunday he doesn’t believe the alleged informant was being protected, calling the FBI and Justice “a little hypocritical.”
Whether Trump will agree to be interviewed remains uncertain.