“There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form,” Giuliani said in a statement Thursday, reiterating the president’s long-standing defense against accusations that his campaign secretly coordinated with Moscow to help swing the election. “Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.”
He added, referring to discredited conspiracy theories that the president and his allies have long cited, “The only knowledge I have in this regard is the collusion of the Clinton campaign with Russia which has so far been ignored.”
Giuliani was seeking to clarify an interview Wednesday night in which he stopped short of defending Trump campaign aides, drawing speculation that he might have inside knowledge of possible coordination with Russia.
“I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign,” he told CNN. He added, “I said the president of the United States. There is not a single bit of evidence the president of the United States committed the only crime you could commit here, conspired with the Russians to hack” the Democratic National Committee.
Giuliani’s backpedaling was the latest in a series of conflicting comments he has made about the investigation by the special counsel, Robert Mueller. The evolution of his statements have suggested shifts in the president’s defense strategy, often following developments in the investigations. On Tuesday, prosecutors for the special counsel filed a 200-page, mostly redacted court document related to the case against Trump’s one-time campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Among the little information that was not blacked out were details about his relationship with a Russian whom prosecutors have said has ties to Russian intelligence.
The special counsel’s document was in response to a recent filing by Manafort’s legal team, which inadvertently disclosed that Manafort had provided his Russian associate with American polling data.
Giuliani has previously denied that there was coordination by Trump campaign aides.
Trump has long maintained that his campaign never aided Russia’s meddling, even as the special counsel inquiry has revealed communications between Russians and some Trump campaign aides.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.