President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani on Sunday said Michael Cohen is no longer part of the president’s legal team.
“Of course not,” he said on “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” “It would be a conflict right now for him to be the president’s attorney.”
The Department of Justice confirmed earlier this month that Cohen is facing a federal criminal investigation over possible bank fraud. The FBI previously raided his Manhattan office, hotel room, and home. Giuliani said he anticipates Cohen to comply with the investigation, but believes the president’s long-term attorney has not engaged in any wrongdoing.
“I expect that he is going to cooperate with him. I don’t think they’ll be happy with him because he doesn’t have any incriminating evidence about the president or himself. The man is an honest, honorable lawyer,” he said.
Giuliani last week said the president had knowledge of a $130,000 payment weeks before the 2016 presidential election made by Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels as part of hush money agreement over an alleged affair with Trump. He later walked back those comments after Trump, who previously denied any knowledge of the payments, suggested Giuliani was not familiar with the facts of the case.
The former New York City mayor on Sunday further backtracked and said he was not aware of the details of the arrangement. He was adamant, however, that no campaign finance laws were violated because Trump reimbursed Cohen.
“I’m not involved in that but the reality is that he denies it, she denied it, but when it was opportunistic right before the election she came forward and then of course the whole thing happened with Michael Cohen,” Giuliani said. “It was not a campaign contribution because it wouldn’t have been done anyways. This is the kind of thing that I’ve settled for celebrities and famous people. Every lawyer that does that kind of work has.”
Giuliani also suggested Trump would not speak with special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation over possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether the president’s campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
“Not after the way they’ve acted,” he said.
When asked whether Trump would testify should Mueller subpoena him, Giuliani said there would be no requirement for Trump to comply and could exert presidential authority to escape any forced testimony.
