Giuliani: Trump Fired Comey Because He Refused To Publicly Exonerate POTUS

On Tuesday, January 31, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was present for U.S. President Donald Trump's live announcement of Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court of the United States nominee, in the East Room of the White House. (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto)
On Tuesday, January 31, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was present for U.S. President Donald Trump's live announcement of Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court of the United State... On Tuesday, January 31, Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, was present for U.S. President Donald Trump's live announcement of Colo. appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch as his Supreme Court of the United States nominee, in the East Room of the White House. (Photo by Cheriss May/NurPhoto via Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Donald Trump’s motive for firing former FBI Director James Comey last year was that Comey wouldn’t publicly exonerate the President from his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump’s new lawyer said Wednesday night.

“He fired Comey because Comey would not — among other things — say that he wasn’t a target of the investigation,” Rudy Giuliani said during a revealing interview with Sean Hannity Wednesday night. “He fired him and he said ‘I’m free of this guy.’”

That disclosure partially props up Comey’s assertions that he was fired because Trump asked him to pledge personal loyalty to the President. Trump has denied those allegations and the White House claims Comey was fired because of his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt shortly after he fired Comey last May, Trump suggested that his rationale for firing Comey was related to the Russia probe.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. A good media strategy would be to fix a ball-gag to Rudy and tie him up in the basement of Comet Pizza, guarded by Flynn’s demented son…

  2. I wasn’t a fan of Rudy Giuliani, but he does seem to be worth his weight in gold.

  3. I’m at a loss. What possible reason could Giuliani have for saying this, other than it’s the truth?

    At whom is this statement targeted? What persuadable segment of the voting demographic is pulled in the Republican direction by such an admission?

    Is Rudy simply as verbally incontinent as Trump? Is such a thing even possible? GOP 2018: Make America Senile Again?

  4. Also, too: WHY IS YOUR LEGAL TEAM TAKING INTERVIEWS ON SEAN HANNITY, HOW IS THAT A GOOD IDEA, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH WITH THIS, YOU KNOW YOU’RE ALLOWED TO NOT GO ON SEAN HANNITY AND SAY STUPID THINGS

  5. Damn Rudy, shut it (or keep it up, I suppose). Giuliani LOVES the spotlight and has seemed to forget any criminal defense lessons from law school - practice, etc…

    Keep blabbing, Fool! My two cents.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

96 more replies

Participants

Avatar for mondfledermaus Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for clunkertruck Avatar for clemmers Avatar for theod Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for progress Avatar for Lacuna-Synecdoche Avatar for chelsea530 Avatar for clearwater Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for serendipitoussomnambulist Avatar for riverstreet Avatar for mrf Avatar for dave_mb Avatar for reggid Avatar for clauscph Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for jtx Avatar for milt69 Avatar for not_so_fluffy Avatar for centralasiaexpat Avatar for socalista Avatar for erik_t

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: