President Donald Trump will not grant a sit-down interview to Russia probe Special Counsel Robert Mueller unless prosecutors give his legal team access to documents on an FBI informant during his presidential campaign, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani said on Tuesday.
"We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview," Giuliani told The Washington Post.
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Giuliani's remarks Tuesday that Trump won't be interviewed "until they decide whether they are going to give us the documents or not" run counter to his earlier statement that Trump is eager to speak with Mueller and that he committed no wrongdoing.
Trump on Tuesday fired off on Twitter about Mueller's investigation into possible collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russians, calling it a "Rigged Russia Witch Hunt." The president, who has coined the phrase "spygate" to refer to the affair, also quoted political commentator Mollie Hemingway's comments on the topic from earlier in the day on Fox News.
"'This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about. It wasn't just a wiretap against a campaign aide...it was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign...people call that Spying...this is unprecedented and scandalous.' Mollie Hemingway," Trump tweeted.
“This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about. It wasn’t just a wiretap against a campaign aide...it was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign...people call that Spying...this is unprecedented and scandalous.” Mollie Hemingway
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018
Giuliani also told The Post that Mueller's efforts to sit down with Trump signal that the probe is wrapping up.
"I don't think they would have asked to interview him until they are pretty much finished with everything. They're only going to get one shot at him. They know that," Giuliani said. "You look pretty amateurish if you interview him and you don't have all the facts gathered."
The former New York mayor, who received a less-than-flattering birthday greeting from his hometown Monday, added that Trump's frequent tweets bashing the probe are working to his benefit.
"Spygate—that's the reason—he's not just ratcheted it up for no reason," Giuliani said. "He believes it is working, and he is genuinely upset about it. As an effective politician, you're not going to do something that you don't think is working," the lawyer said.
