Rudy Giuliani, the outspoken attorney for President Donald Trump, gave a lengthy and eventful interview on CNN’s “New Day” Monday morning. One of the several topics he discussed with host Alisyn Camerota was Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia probe, and how long he thinks it will continue. As it turns out, it may not be that much longer, and according to Giuliani, that’s not just wishful thinking; it’s based on words he’s heard directly from Mueller himself.
“We’re mindful of the fact that we’d like to get this over with by September. I do believe that Mueller does too. He said something in our meeting with him that he thought September was the date to get their report in,” Giuliani said. “It makes sense … it’s enough before the November elections so you can’t say he interfered with it one way or the other.”
The former New York City mayor said that getting a report in sooner rather than later would allow Mueller to avoid the controversy that former FBI Director James Comey sparked by making public announcement regarding the Hillary Clinton investigation so soon before the 2016 election. By releasing his report in September, Mueller would be able to avoid accusations that he was trying to politicize the investigation by trying to influence November’s midterm elections.
Giuliani said that timing was something that was part of negotiations for a possible interview of President Trump, and that should Trump speak to Mueller, he wants a report to come out soon after.
“They had thought that September, early September, would be a good guideline. I may have read into that, that that’s also a good time so you don’t get accused of doing a Comey and getting involved in the election.”
If Mueller’s investigation were to continue into November, Giuliani acknowledged that it could impact voters’ decisions, but he said it could go either way.
“Yeah, I don’t know which way. I mean yeah, people against him get excited about it,” he said, also recognizing, “It’s one of his biggest rallying cries. Don’t impeach; vote Republican because they’ll impeach. I think it sure as hell confuses the midterm.”
Either way, Giuliani was against such talk going into the midterms.
“I don’t think we want the American people voting on impeachment. I think we want them voting on taxes, Russia, China, North Korea.”
[Image via CNN screengrab]
