Giuliani: ‘I never said there was no collusion’ between Trump campaign and Russia

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that he “never said there was no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia, claiming only that Trump himself was not involved in collusion.

“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign. Or between people in the campaign,” Giuliani said on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” after host Chris Cuomo said it was false to suggest there was no collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and the Kremlin. 

{mosads}Giuliani added that he has only said Trump, rather than his campaign, did not collude with the Russians.

“There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you could commit here, conspiring with the Russians to hack the [Democratic National Committee],” Giuliani said.

“The president did not collude with the Russians,” he added.

“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign… I have not. I said the President of the United States,” Pres. Trump’s attorney @RudyGiuliani tells @ChrisCuomo https://t.co/Jy0gttT6Ac pic.twitter.com/JGISmtgrdy

— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) January 17, 2019

Giuliani added that if “the collusion happened, it happened a long time ago.”

“It’s not provable because it never happened. … I’m telling you there’s no chance it happened,” he added.

Giuliani sought to clarify his comments on Thursday, saying that he had “no knowledge” of collusion taking place. 

“There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form,” Giuliani said in a statement to The New York Times. “Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”

Giuliani’s comments come as special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller is also investigating possible obstruction of justice on the part of Trump.

Trump has long dismissed the investigation, which began in May 2017, as a “witch hunt” and has repeatedly denied that his campaign colluded with Russian efforts to sway the election in his favor.

Cuomo also pressed Giuliani over recent revelations that Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has been accused by Mueller of sharing internal campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian national with suspected ties to Moscow’s military intelligence agency.

Giuliani maintained that sharing polling data with Moscow is “not collusion.”

“Polling data is given to everybody,” he added.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Giuliani’s remarks. 

Mueller has thus far implicated five former Trump associates and more than 20 Russians in his probe.

— Updated Jan. 17, 12:28 p.m.