President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani announced Thursday that he has no plans to stop representing Trump, contradicting earlier reports that suggested he planned to resign his position in the wake of the Mueller probe.
Giuliani tweeted on Friday that he is “still dealing with the possible crimes committed by the investigators” and will work for the president as long as needed.
I have no plan to cease personal representation of @realDonaldTrump. I was brought on to handle the Mueller investigation and I am still dealing with the possible crimes committed by the investigators. I’m here until Pres. doesn’t need me or needs something else.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) June 6, 2019
Rumors fly
On Thursday, the Washington Examiner reported that Giuliani said he planned to move on after finishing the “cleanup” of the Mueller probe. The Examiner reported:
Giuliani told the Washington Examiner he’s working on legal issues on Trump’s behalf before the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and the New York attorney general’s office, where prosecutors are reviewing evidence generated by Mueller.
As with the Mueller probe, Giuliani believes there would be a point where it becomes clear that non-congressional legal fallout is over.
When that happens, he intends to end his representation of Trump, saying he would “probably not” remain his personal attorney. If asked by Trump to continue, however, he said it’s possible he would remain. “Depends on if I’m needed,” he said.
Giuliani joined Trump’s legal team in April 2018 to represent the president during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the election. Mueller concluded his nearly two-year investigation and submitted his 400+ page report in April, finding no collusion.
Investigating the investigators
Under Attorney General William Barr’s leadership, several Justice Department investigators are now reviewing the origins of the collusion investigation and potential FISA abuses. Of particular concern to Barr is whether the FBI’s spying on the Trump campaign was warranted or not.
Trump, who cooperated with the Mueller probe but complained bitterly throughout about its unfairness, has ordered the intelligence agencies to cooperate with Barr’s investigations and gave Barr authority to declassify information related to the investigation.
Barr told CBS This Morning that government intrusion into elections is as “troubling” as foreign interference, saying, “The use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign to me is unprecedented and it’s a serious red line that’s been crossed.”
“What they did here, I believe over the next six months we’re going to uncover evidence that what they did here was criminal,” Giuliani told Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro in March. “This whole thing of collusion isn’t true. I was with Donald Trump for the last five months of the campaign. He didn’t ever talk to a Russian, he had nothing to do with a Russian.”
Inspector General Michael Horowitz is expected to release his potentially “devastating” report on possible FISA abuses in June.
Dems target Giuliani
Meanwhile, congressional Democrats, who have been investigating Donald Trump in hopes of finding something that Mueller missed, are also reportedly going after Giuliani. The Daily Beast reported Friday that House Democrats are “actively discussing opening a probe into Rudy Giuliani for his overseas political and consulting work, including a recent attempt to uncover dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.”
Giuliani doesn’t seem worried, though. “If they want to come after me, I gladly accept it, because we could just make the Biden stuff bigger news,” he told the Daily Beast, adding that “it would be a fun fight.”
2020 Trump campaign?
Giuliani, who was a top adviser for Trump’s 2016 campaign, may also be planning to join Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. According to a May report from Politico, several Trump campaign advisers expect the former New York City mayor will serve an important “jack-of-all-trades” role on the campaign.
“Because so many people realize the vital role he played in defending the president through the Russia hoax, I think his surrogacy would appeal across the entire base,” Trump adviser Michael Caputo told Politico. “And I think everybody wants to hear from him. In fact, I can’t think of one demographic in the column of the president that would not want to hear from him.”
“We’ll see where they have holes and where they need help,” Giuliani told Politico about joining the Trump campaign. “I’m available to do a lot of it.”
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