Jim VandeHei at Axios:
In remarks that he yesterday tried to walk back as "hypothetical," Giuliani admitted Trump's team may have been working on — and updating him on — a potential Trump Tower in Moscow all the way up to Election Day.
This possibility is a huge deal for four reasons:
- Giuliani suggested that then-candidate Trump was aware of — and discussed — the deal far longer than previously disclosed. Giuliani, relaying a quote from the president that hardly sounds hypothetical, said in an interview with the N.Y. Times that Trump had told him the Trump Tower Moscow discussions were "going on from the day I announced to the day I won."
- That would mean Trump was being untruthful or highly misleading with his repeated campaign denials of any Moscow business dealings, as late as his Oct. 9 debate with Hillary Clinton: "I don’t deal there."
- This would mean Trump was cooking up a business deal with Vladimir Putin’s Russia while calling for warmer relations with Russia and questioning the U.S. role in Putin’s nemesis, NATO.
- And Russian officials would have had negative information to hold over Trump, during the election and after. They would have known Trump was misleading the American people about his Moscow deal.
Giuliani tells NYer he's "been through all the tapes" and that's how he knew BuzzFeed misreported. Pressed on what he means by tapes, Giuliani: "I shouldn’t have said tapes." Pressed again, says, "I have listened to tapes, but none of them concern this." https://t.co/f1DRUltSRf— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 22, 2019
Which quote from today's @NewYorker interview with @RudyGiuliani is your favorite?— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) January 22, 2019
1) "I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. 'Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump.'"
2) "I shouldn’t have said tapes."
3) "I’m a criminal lawyer."
4) "Even if he did do it, it wouldn’t be a crime."
