President Donald Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said today that he wants a thorough investigation into the origins of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, The Hill reports.
“It’s crying out for someone to investigate the investigators. There should be a full and complete [inspector general] report and grand jury investigation of what happened here, after it became the Russia probe. What was the purpose of it? What did they gather?”
After calling for an investigation, Giuliani said that Mueller’s probe into possible ties and coordination between the Trump campaign and Kremlin is “illegal” and “unethical.” The Russia probe, Guiliani says, is illegal because of its genesis, and not because of Special Counsel Robert Mueller who, Trump’s lawyer claims, should not be investigated.
As Axios noted, Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel in May last year. Shortly after his appointment, the investigation into Russian 2016 election collusion expanded, reaching the Trump Campaign, and President Trump himself. In February this year, Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities, and filed 32 additional charges against Manafort and Gates.
More recently, Robert Mueller has, as Politico noted, steamrolled President Trump’s campaign against him; Paul Manafort was sent to jail over accusations of witness tampering. Another close associate of President Trump, Roger Stone, as the Inquisitr reported today, admitted meeting with a Russian national who offered dirt on Hillary Clinton. Stone’s meeting has now resurfaced as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Stone has, in defense, accused law enforcement officials he considers hostile to Donald Trump, of setting up a sting operation. Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani has echoed Stone’s sentiment, repeatedly asserting today that there should be an investigation into Mueller’s probe. In large, Giuliani bases his claims on his interpretation of Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s recently released report.
Inspector General’s report, Giuliani claims, clearly demonstrates the FBI’s bias against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, and preference for Hillary Clinton. Evidence of this are text messages counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page exchanged, Trump’s lawyer says.
“How much did he infect that probe with his own very, very extreme positions? I don’t know, but I want to find out before I go forward,” Giuliani said.
Yesterday, however, as The Hill noted, Giuliani contradicted President Trump, saying the IG report does not exonerate him, although it dramatically supports some of his client’s positions.
Today is not the first time Rudy Giuliani has openly criticized FBI agents. As Newsweek reported, President Trump’s lawyer called FBI and prosecutors investigating his client “wackadoodles” who belong in a psychiatric ward.