CNN anchor Chris Cuomo followed his bombshell interview with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday by saying the bar is being set too low by President Trump’s legal team in the federal Russia investigation.
On his evening program, “Cuomo Prime Time,” Giuliani flip-flopped on past statements when he denied that he ever said there was “no collusion” between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia. “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. I have no idea, I have not. I said the president of the United States,” he said.
Giuliani made the stunning claim after he was asked about how the defense team for Paul Manafort, Trump’s former 2016 campaign chairman, acknowledged in a court filing this month that their client shared polling data before the election with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian-Ukrainian political consultant to Russian intelligence.
As part of a series of tweets on Thursday morning, Cuomo commented on a tweet from a colleague who said Giuliani followed up with CNN to say “he did not intend to send any new signals regarding the understanding of the investigation.”
“I believe him. But they did,” Cuomo replied.
I believe him. But they did. https://t.co/JoJCqt2b4G
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) January 17, 2019
In response to another reporter who shared a GIF of Cuomo’s shocked expression when Giuliani made the claim and tweeted “We are all [Cuomo],” Cuomo said, “God forbid – one is too many. But we can all see that the bar is being set [too] low for satisfaction by the potus team. What was done by campaign and who knew what, matters. What potus knew and lied about, matters – whether a crime or not.”
Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, has made a number of head-turning and sometimes confusing statements since he became Trump’s lead personal lawyer in April 2018 for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. Among those are Giuliani’s “truth isn’t truth” remark in August.
Cuomo also said on Thursday that even though Trump’s legal team appears to be shifting their position to better shield the president, that doesn’t mean it’s effective.
“Um… so Giuliani is saying Trump was being *unwittingly* advised by a bunch of colluding Russian agents in his campaign. That. Makes. Him. A. Russian. Asset,” said one Twitter user to Cuomo.
“[P]oint that needs no assumption -lawyers have now shrunk their defense to just the idea that potus himself did nothing,” Cuomo replied. “That is new and troubling and also not bulletproof. What did potus know and when? Did he lie about the same? Not just abt crimes but credibility to lead.”
Vanity Fair reported Wednesday that Giuliani “hates” being one of Trump’s external attorneys. The outlet additionally reported that Giuliani expected Mueller’s final report detailing his federal Russia investigation findings will be “horrific” for the president.
Giuliani didn’t respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on Vanity Fair’s report.
