President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, spent Thursday night and Friday morning calling for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia to be "suspended," CNN reports. Giuliani's demand was prompted by the Justice Department inspector general's report, released Thursday, which revealed that FBI agent Peter Strzok assured FBI lawyer Lisa Page in a 2016 text message that "we'll stop" Trump from becoming president. Strzok had briefly worked for Mueller, but was removed after other messages to Page surfaced earlier.
The inspector general's report notably said that while Strzok and Page "cast a cloud" over the FBI, there was no evidence that they "directly affected" decisions made in the investigation, contrary to Giuliani's insinuation. Speaking Friday morning on Fox News, Giuliani nevertheless insisted: "Let's take a halt to the Mueller investigation. Let's stop that and get rid of all the agents doing the Mueller investigation." The night before, he'd also urged Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to "redeem themselves" by suspending Mueller. Giuliani additionally said Strzok should be "in jail by the end of next week."
Responding to Giuliani's comments, The New Yorker's John Cassidy notes: "Rather than focusing on [the Justice Department's] conclusion, which runs counter to what Trump has been saying for almost two years, the president's supporters, with Giuliani in the lead, are cherry-picking from the report to try and scuttle the Mueller investigation, which didn't even start until May of 2017, after Trump had fired [former FBI Director James] Comey." Watch Giuliani's appearance on Hannity on Thursday below. Jeva Lange