Former New York Mayor and Trump ally Rudy Giuliani denied on Monday that he had any official role in writing President Donald Trump’s executive order barring travelers from majority-Muslim countries.
“I have not served on any Trump administration Commission ‘relating to the so-called Muslim Ban Executive Orders,'” Giuliani wrote in an affidavit filed as part of an unrelated case. “For clarity, I have not participating in writing any of the Executive Orders on that subject issued by the Trump Administration.”
Giuliani and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey both submitted court papers as part of a case where they are representing a Turkish businessman charged with helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman questioned both to determine whether their involvement with the case is a conflict of interest, according to the New York Law Journal.
Giuliani’s effort to distance himself from Trump’s travel ban appears at odds with his claim in January that Trump asked him to find a way to “legally” enact the ban on Muslim immigration Trump repeatedly touted on the campaign trail.
“When he first announced it, he said Muslim ban,” Giuliani told Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro. “He called me up, he said ‘Put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally.’”
