‘Never said there was no collusion’ with Russia, says Giuliani

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, claimed on Wednesday night that he “never said there was no collusion” between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials — he only said that the president himself was not involved.

The statement — made on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time” show — puts President Trump in an awkward position as he clearly stated in May 2017, that “there is no collusion, certainly myself and my campaign.”

“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign,” said Mr Giuliani, a former New York mayor who now represents Mr Trump. “I said the president of the United States,” he added.

When the host, Chris Cuomo, reminded him that President Trump has denied any collusion between Russian officials and members of his 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Giuliani said: “There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the DNC.”

He was referring to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and leaking the emails of senior Democrats during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Thousands of emails taken from the accounts of staff at the DNC and John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, were published by outlets including WikiLeaks.

Officials of the Clinton campaign believe the leaked email contributed to her defeat in key US states that caused her to lose the election despite winning 2.9 million more popular votes than her rival.