President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani revealed Tuesday that FBI agents questioned him earlier this year over his hint in October 2016 of “surprises” that would help then-candidate Trump in the final days of the election.
“That’s all they asked about. What was I talking about in terms of ‘surprise’? ” Giuliani said during an interview with HuffPost. “What was I talking about when I was talking about new information?”
Giuliani said FBI agents interviewed him in his room at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in February, according to the report.
{mosads}
HuffPost noted that his comments appear to confirm that the Justice Department is investigating leaks from the FBI’s New York field office about the probe of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State.
It is not clear what the FBI’s interest with Giuliani was or how the investigation is progressing.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers earlier this week that the FBI was “aggressively” looking into a series of leaks and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said he is also continuing his investigation.
Giuliani, who was a top campaign surrogate in the latter parts of the presidential race, is currently representing Trump in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
“Did I get any leaks from the FBI? I said no,” Giuliani said Tuesday, reiterating that the “surprise” he mentioned in October 2016 was for a 20-minute national television ad he wanted Trump to buy to deliver a speech “hitting very hard on the Comey decision.”
During a later Fox News interview on Nov. 4, the former New York City mayor had said he knew about new emails that related to Clinton’s server that were discovered by the FBI before former FBI Director James Comey notified Congress the previous week.
“Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it,” he said when asked about the FBI director’s letter.
Giuliani clarified in an interview with CNN later that day that he was not tipped off by current FBI officials to new developments in the FBI’s probe.
“It all comes from former FBI agents and it’s all hearsay,” he said on CNN.
Comey had sent a letter to Congress on Oct. 28 notifying lawmakers that new emails had been discovered potentially related to the bureau’s Clinton probe, effectively reopening the investigation.
He reportedly did this for fear that the investigation would be leaked by FBI officials.
Comey closed the investigation a few days before the election, though Clinton blamed the late disclosure that the probe was being reopened for her election loss.