Despite some reports on Wednesday that Robert Mueller definitively said he wouldn’t be indicting Donald Trump, new reporting shows that the special counsel didn’t explicitly tell Rudy Giuliani whether he planned to bring charges against the President of the United States.
According to Washington Post reporter Robert Costa, Mueller refused to tell the inept Trump lawyer whether he would charge Trump, despite Giuliani’s continued wishful thinking.
“He was coy,” Giuliani said, according to Costa. “He didn’t seem to want to give the answer.”
Instead, an assistant to Mueller broke into the conversation and simply told Giuliani that the special counsel is “bound by Justice Department policies.” Giuliani took that to mean that Trump wouldn’t be indicted.
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The full exchange between The Post and Giuliani:
Key exchanges tonight between Giuliani and @washingtonpost — Mueller himself didn’t seem to say anything, but a SC deputy called days later, per Giuliani pic.twitter.com/mRGosNAh5K
— Robert Costa (@costareports) May 16, 2018
Team Trump continues to behave like they’re guilty
It is still a point of debate whether the president can or will face criminal charges at the conclusion of this investigation. According to Giuliani, Mueller’s team said they will adhere to the longstanding Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
But what’s really stunning about this news isn’t the debate around presidential indictments. It’s the fact Giuliani isn’t trying to convince the special counsel that his client is innocent. Instead, he’s seemingly begging Robert Mueller not to indict or charge the president.
Once again, this suggests that the Trump team knows the president is guilty of some indictable offenses, and they’re banking on a highly debated DOJ guideline to save them.
Since joining the president’s legal team, the former New York City mayor has certainly been successful in muddying the waters around this investigation, as he clearly sought.
But one thing Rudy Giuliani has made crystal clear is that the President of the United States is likely a guilty man.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
