Giuliani sounds off on Comey, Clifford, and Trump

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey because he would not say the president wasn’t a target of the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As a new addition to Trump’s legal team, Giuliani gave several media interviews this week in an attempt to set the facts straight about the Russia investigation and the president’s legal battle with Stephanie Clifford, also known as Stormy Daniels. Though Trump initially said he fired Comey for mishandling the inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, Giuliani confirmed the dismissal was “because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn’t a target.” Giuliani also acknowledged that Trump paid back attorney Michael Cohen for the $130,000 he spent on a nondisclosure agreement with Clifford to keep her from publicly accusing Trump of having an extramarital affair with her in 2006. The payment happened just before the 2016 election, and Cohen later received reimbursement in the form of a legal retainer, Giuliani said. On Twitter Thursday morning, the president said Clifford’s claims were false and “money from the campaign, or campaign contributions played no roll [sic] in this transaction.” He did not admit to having prior knowledge of the agreement. “He didn’t know about the specifics of it, as far as I know,” Giuliani told Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday. “But he did know about the general arrangement, that Michael would take care of things like this, like I take care of things like this for my clients. I don’t burden them with every single thing that comes along.” Comey’s firing and the Clifford payment have both come up in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. This week, Trump replaced attorney Ty Cobb, the administration’s point person for the investigation, with Emmet Flood, the lawyer who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial.