President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani argued that his client has a right to be briefed on the FBI’s use of a confidential source to contact members of his 2016 campaign.
“I think that the White House has every right to know, the president has right to know as commander in chief,” Giuliani said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
A group of lawmakers were briefed by the Justice Department and FBI on Thursday after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., demanded documents relating to the confidential source who made contact with three Trump campaign advisers in the run-up to the election. The source has been revealed in media reports as Stefan Halper, a former University of Cambridge professor.
Two officials from the White House, chief of staff John Kelly and lawyer Emmet Flood, did make brief remarks to the attendees to encourage as much openness as allowed under the law, but they left before the briefings began.
Giuliani argued that Trump deserves to be briefed on the FBI’s source “in order to figure out” what it means to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into his presidential campaign. The president has alleged that a “spy” was sent to his campaign for political purposes.
“All that it means is an investigation that we thought was rigged was rigged from the very beginning. It never should have started. There is no evidence of collusion,” Giuliani said.
After lawmakers were briefed, House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said there was “no evidence” of a spy on the 2016 Trump campaign. Meanwhile, Trump has dubbed the situation “spygate.”
