Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has declared the president is “absolutely innocent” of any suspicious ties with Russia — and insisted “collusion is not a crime”.
Hitting back at reports suggesting Mr Trump had knowledge of meddling by Moscow in the 2016 presidential election, the former New York mayor said: “The hacking is the crime — the president didn’t hack.
“I have been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime,” he added. “I don’t even know if that’s a crime, colluding about Russians.”
In a rambling 32-minute interview on CNN, Mr Giuliani also lashed out at Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, comparing him with infamous historical and literary traitors Benedict Arnold, Brutus and Iago.
“You’ve got a really bad guy here,” he claimed, branding Mr Cohen a “scumbag”.
Mr Cohen, the president’s former personal lawyer, reportedly alleged that Mr Trump knew in advance about his son’s infamous Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer offering damaging information about Democrat rival Hillary Clinton during the election campaign.
“This Russia meeting, I’m happy to tell them, he wasn’t there,” said Mr Giuliani.
Mr Cohen, who is under investigation for alleged fraud and possible campaign finance violations, also released a tape last week of his discussions with Mr Trump about a hush money payment to a former Playboy Playmate who claimed she had a 10-month affair with the president.
Investigators are said to have seized 180 recordings made by Mr Cohen, although only one has Mr Trump’s voice, said Mr Giuliani.
Launching a fierce attack on Mr Cohen’s credibility, Mr Giuliani compared the lawyer with Arnold, the War of Independence general who betrayed George Washington.
“He was shaking people down for money, he was lying about what was on a tape and manipulating, doctoring tapes,” alleged Mr Giuliani.
“I didn’t know any of that. George Washington didn’t know Benedict Arnold was a traitor.”
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