Giuliani: Nothing wrong with taking Russian info

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani insisted Sunday there was “nothing wrong” with the president’s 2016 campaign taking information from the Russians, as House Democrats pledged stepped-up investigations into campaign misconduct and possible crimes of obstruction detailed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Giuliani called the Trump campaign’s effort to get political help from representatives of the Russian government possibly ill-advised but not illegal.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking information from Russians,” Giuliani said, referring to a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Trump’s son Donald Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a lawyer linked to Russia. The Trump campaign was seeking harmful information on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The Sunday news shows offered the latest back and forth after the long-anticipated release Thursday of Mueller’s 448-page redacted report on his two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign and made no decision on obstruction of justice.

Giuliani rebutted Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who said in a statement on Twitter on Friday he was “sickened” by the findings in Mueller’s report that cited details on how the Trump campaign welcomed political dirt from Russia.

Giuliani said Romney should “stop the bull,” saying that accepting negative information about a political opponent is common.

“I would have advised, just out of excess of caution, don’t do it,” he said. Nevertheless, “there’s no crime.”

Pressed about whether there is something wrong about using information stolen by foreign adversaries, Giuliani said, “It depends on the stolen material.”