Developing: Giuliani Takes New, Unexpected Place on Trump Team
A longtime friend and supporter of President Donald Trump is hoping to bring one of the biggest distractions thus far to Trump’s presidency to a close.
Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, is joining the president’s legal team with the specific goal of “quickly” resolving special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials.
“I am announcing today that former New York City Mayor and United States attorney for the Southern District of New York Rudy Giuliani is joining the President’s personal legal team,” Jay Sekulow, the president’s lawyer, said in a statement.
Outstanding! Giuliani doing what he does best, Law and Order! #MAGA @realDonaldTrump #AmericaFirst https://t.co/YCGEfMwWFt
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) April 19, 2018
“Rudy is great,” Trump said in the statement issued by Sekulow. “He has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country.”
Giuliani told The Washington Post he thinks helping to bring the Mueller investigation to a close is best for the country.
Giuliani, who joins a legal team that has struggled to recruit new members, told the Post he has been in talks with the president for weeks about joining his legal team.
Giuliani said he would work alongside Trump’s current attorneys, Sekulow and Ty Cobb, regarding the Mueller probe.
Giuliani said he formalized his decision to join the legal team in recent days, including while having dinner with the president last week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
As to reports Trump is unlikely to meet with Mueller, Giuliani would only say, “It’s too early for me to say that.”
Giuliani also declined to discuss whether Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe because of the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, could be fired by the president in the coming weeks.
“I’m not involved in anything about those issues,” Giuliani told the Post. “My advice on Mueller has been this: He should be allowed to do his job. He’s entitled to do his job.”
Giuliani said that while he plans to spend a “great deal of time” in Washington working with Trump, he will continue to live in New York.
He also said he will soon take a leave from his law firm, Greenberg Traurig.
The New York Times reports Sekulow has confirmed that Jane Serene Raskin and Martin R. Raskin, former federal prosecutors based in Florida, are also being added to Trump’s legal team.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
