Trump, Giuliani slam Russia probe

President Donald Trump and his legal team on Sunday continued to lash out at the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The president criticized former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a tweet on Sunday: “He should be ashamed of himself for allowing this total HOAX to get started in the first place.” He also called his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, a “rat” for his cooperation with federal investigators. A U.S. district judge in New York last week sentenced Cohen to three years in prison on charges of campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and lying to Congress. Trump claims Cohen lied about him during court proceedings to get a more lenient sentence.

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told Fox News Sunday that Cohen’s claims that he was loyal to Trump were laughable: “He was fiercely loyal to Donald Trump? Even though at the very time he was fiercely loyal to him he was taping him and lying to him? He was never fiercely loyal to Donald Trump. He’s fiercely loyal to himself.” He also said Trump did nothing wrong or illegal, either in regard to any possible Russian collusion or regarding payments to women alleging past extramarital affairs.

When asked if the president might still sit down for in-person testimony with special counsel Robert Mueller, Giuliani responded, “Over my dead body, but, you know, I could be dead.” Mueller could theoretically seek a subpoena to compel Trump to testify if the president continues refusing an interview, a move that would almost certainly trigger a court fight.