On CNN’s State of the Union broadcast, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani defended his client’s actions during the 2016 presidential election, telling SOTU host Jake Tapper: “There’s nothing wrong with taking information from the Russians.” Giulani’s comments came in the wake of the (partially redacted) Mueller report’s release on Thursday, which included numerous revelations about Russian interference in the 2016 election on behalf of Trump and how his campaign welcomed and encouraged this foreign assistance.
“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians,” Rudy Giuliani tells @jaketapper. #CNNSOTU https://t.co/Fe78m3aDWq pic.twitter.com/wfcU38vTWX
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 21, 2019
During the show, Tapper confronted Giuliani with comments Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney made on Friday about the Trump campaign’s conduct, as detailed by Mueller.
“I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President. I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia,” Romney said in a statement released to the public.
When Tapper pressed if Giuliani would’ve accepted election help from a foreign government, Giuliani, who ran for president in 2008, demurred. “I probably wouldn’t,” he told Tapper. But then noting he wasn’t part of Trump’s 2016 campaign staff, he added: “I wasn’t asked. …I would have advised, just out of excess of caution, don’t do it.” Giuliani called Romney a “hypocrite,” but refused to specify similar actions from the now-Senator’s 2012 presidential campaign. He also said members of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign had talked with Ukrainians as part of their opposition research on Trump.
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