Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, explained to a gaggle of reporters on Wednesday that he believes Robert Mueller is going to meddle in November's midterm elections.
“If he doesn't file his report by September 1, mid-September, he's clearly doing a Comey,” Giuliani said, clearly referencing Comey's interference in the 2016 election with his announcement that he was re-opening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails just days before the presidential election.
Unless Mueller's report is made public by September 1, Giuliani said, the special counsel should be considered to be "meddling in the election."
"Doing Hillary in July, doing Hillary again in late October and then pulling back on the investigation a weekend before the election? Horrible,” recalled Giuliani. He also said that "whether the heck they have an interview or no interview" between Trump and Mueller, a possibility which is still up in the air, the special counsel should release his report to the public.
When asked if Trump should fire Mueller, Giuliani said no, adding that “Mueller… is creating his own problems."
In July 2016, then-FBI Director James Comey announced that no criminal charges would be filed against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was Trump's Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential election, after a year-long investigation into her use of a private email server during her time at State.
The FBI subsequently discovered more emails in October, leaving Comey with no choice but to order a re-opening of the investigation on October 28th. Comey said his conclusion about Clinton was unchanged and the investigation was closed again on November 6, 2016, two days before the election. Many, however, including Clinton, believe Comey's decision to revisit Clinton's emails swung the election to Trump.
Giuliani is also awaiting a report from the Justice Department's inspector general Michael Horowitz, who is investigating whether Comey had any connection to alleged leaks from the FBI about Clinton's emails and the Clinton Foundation. Those reports will “explain a lot of it,” Giuliani said. No release date for the report has been set, however, a draft version has been made available to DOJ and the FBI.
Trump fired Comey in May, 2016, which prompted DOJ to hire Mueller to investigate if Trump obstructed justice by doing so.
Trump later told NBC's Lester Holt that he fired Comey because he felt "this Russia thing" was a fake story. He expressed similar sentiments to the Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador, who visited Trump in the Oval Office last summer.
Twitter was quick to jump on Giuliani's comments. Mueller "will file when he's done," one person pointed out.
Trump and Giuliani "are in no position to make demands," wrote another, since Trump is the one under investigation.
Trump has waffled on his decision to have a face-to-face interview with Mueller. Though the president has said on many occasions that he was "looking forward" to an interview, his attorneys have said any one-on-one could be a "perjury trap."
Forcing Mueller to end his probe before it's complete is "political" and "not justice," another user noted.
