Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told The Washington Post Tuesday the president will not agree to interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller until the FBI allows the president's legal team to see all material pertaining to use of a confidential informant to probe campaign advisors' contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.
“We need all the documents before we can decide whether we are going to do an interview,” Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post, using Trump’s term “spygate” to refer to the FBI actions, which former officials have said were well within bounds.
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Giuliani has previously said that Trump has done nothing improper and is eager to talk to Mueller. On Tuesday, though, he said, he doesn’t want to make a call on whether Trump will sit down for an interview “until they decide whether they are going to give us the documents or not.”
Under pressure from the White House and congressional Republicans, the Justice Department last week held an unusual pair of briefings for lawmakers on the FBI’s use of the informant, whom Trump has repeatedly cast as a “spy” implanted in his campaign.
There is no evidence to suggest that the source, former University of Cambridge professor Stefan A. Halper, was inserted into the campaign, as the president has suggested, but he did seek out and meet several Trump campaign advisers.
Giuliani also told the Post he and the president believe their efforts to discredit the Russia investigation are yielding results.
Asked why Trump has spent so much time attacking the Mueller probe — the president has fired off a dozen tweets in recent days — Giuliani said the tactic is working.
“As an effective politician, you’re not going to do something that you don’t think is working,” Giuliani said.
“Spygate — that’s the reason — he’s not just ratcheted it up for no reason,” Giuliani said. “He believes it is working, and he is genuinely upset about it.”
Giuliani says Trump won’t sit for Mueller interview unless all ‘spygate’ documents can be reviewed (WaPo)