Prez pardons may ‘clean up’ Mueller probe – Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani wants to mop the floor with Robert Mueller.
In one of his most forceful attacks on the special counsel yet, Giuliani on Friday said the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons from President Trump in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail.
“When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons,” the former New York mayor told the Daily News.
Giuliani's stunning remark came hours after a Washington, D.C., judge revoked Manafort's bail and ordered him to remain behind bars while awaiting his September trial on charges relating to his shady pro-Russian business dealings in Ukraine. The ruling came after Mueller's investigators alleged the ex-Trump campaign chairman had attempted to secure false testimony from potential witnesses in the Russia probe.
Giuliani (photo), who worked as a federal prosecutor for nearly a decade, claimed he had seen no evidence to warrant locking up Manafort.
“I don't understand the justification for putting him in jail,” Giuliani, 74, said. “You put a guy in jail if he's trying to kill witnesses, not just talking to witnesses.”
Giuliani, who serves as Trump's personal lawyer, doubled down on his previous call to end the Mueller investigation immediately.
“That kind of investigation should not go forward,” Giuliani said. “It's time for Justice to investigate the investigators.”
Echoing his boss' factually dubious claims, Giuliani said a scathing report released by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Thursday shows the Mueller team is “tainted.”
“After they get slapped around for their excessively zealous behavior, they go and do something that proves Horowitz is right,” Giuliani said of Manafort's incarceration. “They're out of control.”
Despite Giuliani's claims, Horowitz stressed in his 500-page report that he found no evidence of political bias in the course of investigating whether the FBI mishandled its investigation into Hillary Clinton's email usage. Horowitz found several instances of questionable judgement by investigators, but repeatedly emphasized there is no evidence to suggest major decisions were made with political prejudice.
Nonetheless, Giuliani and the President have pounced on the report as proof of a widespread anti-Trump bias among Mueller's investigators.
A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment.
Giuliani said the Manafort development all but took off the table the prospect of Trump sitting down for an interview with Mueller.
“It's less likely if not completely unlikely that we would be interviewed by a special counsel whose entire berth is illegitimate,” Giuliani said.
Giuliani discussed Trump's power to pardon associates in the past, but has never previously gone as far as to suggest the President could overturn Mueller's investigation in the process.
Legal experts said the purpose of Giuliani's comment was clear.
“It's going to be interpreted as a message to Manafort not to panic,” said Nicholas Gravante, a New York white-collar criminal defense lawyer. “This can come off as Rudy telling Manafort, ‘if push comes to shove here, you're going to get pardoned, so keep your mouth shut.'”
Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a laundry list of charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., money laundering, tax and wire fraud. The charges relate to lobbying work Manafort did on behalf of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's pro-Kremlin former President.
Experts concluded Giuliani's comment could come off as an attempt to impede Mueller's investigation but agreed it's very unlikely to amount to obstruction of justice in a court of law. has