Rudy Giuliani denies that Michael Cohen will turn on his former boss and cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation into President Donald Trump.
‘I checked into this last night. It’s not so. He’s not cooperating,’ Giuliani said on Fox News Channel’s ‘The Ingraham Angle’ on Wednesday night.
‘Nor we do care, because the president did nothing wrong. We are very comfortable if he cooperates that there’s nothing he can cooperate about with regard to President Trump.’
Giuliani popped on TV after strong indications Wednesday that Cohen, who had served as Trump’s lawyer, was cooperating with prosecutors.
Rudy Giuliani denies that Michael Cohen will turn on his former boss and cooperate with the special counsel’s investigation
Michael Cohen parted ways with his legal team which could be a sign he’s cooperating with prosecutors
Cohen parted ways with his own legal team – a move that could signal a new legal strategy ora decision to cooperate.
Cohen, who served as a fixer for Trump before he was president, has been under criminal investigation for bank and wire fraud as well as tax issues relating to his taxi business.
Giuliani said Cohen had nothing on Trump.
‘Michael Cohen I think would tell you, he’s got nothing incriminating with the president. And really, they should stop going after – they’re torturing the guy,’ Giuliani, who serves on Trump’s legal team, said.
‘The reality is they are trying to frighten him. Michael is a tough guy, I don’t think that will happen. And if he does, but don’t think he’s going to lie.’
He said he emphasized with what Cohen is going through.
‘I empathize greatly with Michael. I do not believe he is going to tell a falsehood. And I think he’s going to tell the truth and we are very comfortable with that. The president is very comfortable with him. He’s known him for years.’
The former New York City mayor also said he wasn’t worried about any taped conversations Cohen may have with the president.
Giuliani wouldn’t address whether Trump, who was running for president at the time, told Cohen, who worked for the Trump Organization, to contact the Russians about building a Trump Tower Moscow,.
The plans for Trump Tower Moscow were ultimately abandoned although Cohen worked on the project for longer than he originally made known.
‘I can’t tell you that, that would be confidence, but the reality is, it wouldn’t matter. I mean, nothing came of it,’ Giuliani said. ‘There was no quid pro quo for it.’
He described Trump as ‘clean as a whistle.’
He said the Trump legal team didn’t believe there was a connection between the Trump Tower Project and the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Cohen is facing protracted legal battles after FBI agents raided his home and office in April.
Although there is not evidence of it yet, the split with his legal team could also be a sign of some unknown friction between Cohen and his lawyers, possibly involving something discovered in the trove of documents seized by the FBI.
Lawyers have been poring over 3.7 million documents seized in the raid.
Cohen has been telling friends he expects to be arrested imminently, the New York Daily News reported.
A source told the publication Cohen fears he will get indicted and arrested.
Cohen has been working for Trump since 2011 in an assortment of roles, earning himself the nickname ‘bulldog.’
An ex-White House official shared with Vanity Fair that Trump should definitely be concerned if Cohen turns on him.
‘Trump should be super worried about Michael Cohen,’ the official said to Vanity Fair. ‘If anyone can blow up Trump, it’s him.’
Giuliani on said Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former lawyer, has nothing on the president
Michael Cohen has been under criminal investigation for bank and wire fraud as well as tax issues
Cohen sent a text message to Vanity Fair, asserting that ‘your alleged source is wrong!’
Last week Trump declined to rule out the possibility that he could pardon Cohen or his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is facing trial.
’I haven’t even thought about it,’ Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn, referring to Manafort and Cohen. ‘I haven’t thought about any of it. It’s certainly far too early to be thinking about that.’
He added, ‘They haven’t been convicted of anything. There’s nothing to pardon.’
In the meantime, Giuliani argued that Mueller ‘should put in an interim report and tell us what he’s got on collusion.’
He has been arguing for Mueller’s team to wrap up that part of its investigation – which is examining whether Trump tired to obstruct the federal investigation into Russia’s role in the election – by September 1, so it will made public well ahead of the November election.
‘He’s got the material from which to write a report right now, except the report would say no evidence of collusion on the part of President Trump,’ Giuliani said.
‘He’s not getting the president on any type of obstruction of justice questioning. It’s not going to happen. His whole theory is cockamamie.’