Giuliani Clarifies His Surprising Comments on Collusion

Reiterates Trump's innocence, but can't speak for 'thousands' of campaign workers
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 17, 2019 2:25 PM CST
Updated Jan 17, 2019 2:40 PM CST
Giuliani Clarifies His Surprising Comments on Collusion
In this May 5, 2018, file photo, Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, speaks at the Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights and democracy in Washington.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Rudy Giuliani sought to walk back comments he made in a TV interview that left the impression some of President Trump's top campaign aides might be guilty of colluding with the Russians. "I can understand the confusion," said Giuliani, per the New York Daily News, but he now says he did not mean to imply any such thing. His new statement: “I represent only President Trump not the Trump campaign,” Giuliani said. “There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.” On CNN Wednesday night, Giuliani at one point said, “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign.”

When host Chris Cuomo countered that he had, in fact, said that, Giuliani shot back: “I have not. I said ‘the president of the United States.’" At the time, Giuliani seemed to be trying to distance Trump from former campaign chair Paul Manafort specifically, according to an analysis in Vox. Giuliani's new clarification reiterates that he is speaking only in regard to the president's actions, but he watered down the possibility of guilt elsewhere with the reference to "thousands" of campaign workers. Giuliani elaborated in a comment to the Washington Post: “With regard to the president, he was not involved in any collusion in any way, and he has no knowledge of any collusion,” he said. “The rest I can’t be responsible for, except I can tell you the state of my knowledge, which is that I have no knowledge that anyone on the campaign illegally colluded with the Russians.” (More Rudy Giuliani stories.)

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