Rudy Giuliani also told Fox News that Trump fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation


Analysts, lawyers, and campaign finance experts are dissecting Rudy Giuliani's bombshell on Wednesday night's Hannity that his newest client, President Trump, paid back his lawyer Michael Cohen for Cohen's $130,000 pre-election hush agreement with porn star Stormy Daniels. But Giuliani also had a potentially problematic new explanation for why Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last year, when Comey was overseeing the investigation into Russian election meddling and possible Trump campaign collusion.
"He fired Comey because Comey would not, among other things, say that he wasn't a target in the investigation," Giuliani told Sean Hannity. "He's entitled to that. Hillary Clinton got that, and he couldn't get that. ... So he fired him, and he said, 'I'm free of this guy.'" Officially, Trump fired Comey because of how he handled the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server, and Giuliani appears to be referencing Comey's statement clearing Clinton at the end of the FBI investigation. (The Trump-Russia investigation is still ongoing, now headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.) Trump quickly told NBC's Lester Holt that he'd fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, and days later he told Russia's top diplomats behind closed doors in the Oval Office that Comey was a "real nut job" and firing him removed "great pressure because of Russia."
On MSNBC Wednesday night, Brian Williams played Giuliani's statement and then Trump's comment to Holt. "Everyone here loses credibility, both Trump and Giuliani, because they can't even keep their story internally consistent," former federal attorney Mimi Rocah said. "What Giuliani said is essentially some of the evidence that Mueller would be looking for, which is that Trump fired Comey because Comey wouldn't clear his name. That goes right to that question of intent with respect to obstruction." Trump's admission to Holt was "damaging," she added, "but Giuliani's was even more focused than that" and "rings even more of obstruction." Watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The best film reboots of all-time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Are masked ICE agents America's new secret police?
Today's Big Question Critics say masks undermine trust in law enforcement
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders