The day after Attorney General William Barr released a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report finding members of the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia in its 2016 election interference, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani demanded an apology from CNN anchor Chris Cuomo for its coverage of the Mueller probe.
In a predictably combative CNN interview Monday night, the former New York City mayor loudly argued with Cuomo over whether the president obstructed justice, something Mueller notably stated he could not exonerate the president of in his report.
After Cuomo asked why Trump and his allies “keep lying” about Russia-related situations, Giuliani claimed “people lie all the time” and “maybe they get tricked by tricky prosecutors.”
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The one-time Republican presidential candidate went on to openly complain about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s emails, wondering aloud how she could “whitewash her servers” and not be charged for obstruction of justice while Trump was being looked at for “an attempt to obstruct a non-crime.”
“You are defining it that way and it is very clever,” Cuomo interjected, prompting Giuliani to blow up.
“It's not very clever—it’s justice,” he exclaimed. “You guys—you guys on this network have tortured this man for two years with collusion and nobody has apologized for it. Before we talk about obstruction, apologize! Apologize for the overreaction on collusion!”
“Not a chance,” Cuomo shot back as Giuliani replied that it’s “because you’re not fair.”
The two then went back and forth over whether or not CNN would apologize for the network’s coverage. At one point, Giuliani repeatedly shouted “collusion” before pointing in Cuomo’s face and saying “apologize,” leading Cuomo to say “never.”
“I didn't do anything wrong,” the Cuomo Prime Time host added. “These questions are real. They needed to be regarded as such. And they needed to be investigated.”
Giuliani, meanwhile, continued to beat the drum before eventually adding The Washington Post, NBC and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to the list of those who should say sorry.
