In an interview with CNN’s Allison Camerota Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed he didn’t know if collusion was a crime.
President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Monday that he’s not sure collusion with Russia would be considered a crime.
But legal experts have repeatedly said that anyone found collaborating with Russia on the 2016 election could be charged with other crimes, such as conspiracy — and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is ongoing.
Asked about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s upcoming trial, Giuliani told CNN “New Day” co-anchor Alisyn Camerota that Manafort “was not involved with intimate business relationships with Donald Trump.”
“Four months, they’re not going to be colluding with Russia, which I don’t even know if that’s a crime, colluding about Russians,” Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, continued. “You start analyzing the crime — the hacking is the crime. … The President didn’t hack.”
Comey actually agreed with Rudy Giuliani on this.
CARROLL: My question is, can you give a clear example of what would constitute collusion between a presidential candidate and a foreign government, and specifically what law would that violate?
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: That’s a good question. I can’t give a specific example because collusion is actually not a thing that exists under the federal laws of the United States. I had never heard the term until it appeared in the media.
The question that we would look at as a counterintelligence agency is, are any Americans conspiring, which is a crime defined by the U.S. code, with a foreign government to commit any offenses against the United States or to defraud the United States? Or is any American aiding and abetting? That is assisting their activities with knowledge of their unlawful nature. That’s the legal question as I understand it. And as I sit here, I
can’t give you an example and it would be irresponsible to give you an example. That’s too close to the current case.
It’s weird that this idea has not been accurately presented throughout the media even though it has been the topic of discussion for almost two years now.
