- President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Monday that "collusion is not a crime."
- He also said that "the hacking is the crime" and that Trump "didn't pay" the Russians "for hacking."
President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said in a pair of interviews on Monday morning that he was at a loss for how colluding with the Russians would be categorized as a crime. Instead, he shifted the conversation by noting that the president did not "pay them for hacking," which he said was the real offense.
Speaking on the "Fox & Friends" morning show, Giuliani said he had "been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime."
"Collusion is not a crime," he said, adding that the president is "absolutely innocent."
Later, in a discussion with CNN's "New Day," Giuliani said that if you "start analyzing the crime, the hacking is the crime."
"The president didn't hack," Giuliani said. "He didn't pay them for hacking. If you got the hacked information from the Russians here at CNN and you played it, would you be in jeopardy of going to jail? Of course not."
The U.S. is a land of laws and lawyers.
ReplyDeleteThe courtrooms here are an interesting place. The way criminal justice plays out in actuality is way different than what might be expected by the expression "by a jury of his peers", or by "speedy trial."
In fact, most cases in criminal court are pleaded. And accused routinely give up their right to a speedy trial, often languishing for months in jail.
Similarly, lawyers have a particular way of defending.
Without putting the President's lawyer's words in context, the subtleties of his remarks will be lost.
Bottom line: take the worst case scenario for the President of what the Special Prosecutor is investigating. And take it as given the President colluded with the Russians to have them give him an assist in the election by providing him with info hacked from the Democrats. It still doen't amount to a pot of cholent beans, much less a crime.
Now, again assuming the worst, were the evidence to be presented to the Congress, would they impeach and convict the President? I would hope so! But it wouldn't be for a crime. It would be for being a bad sport.