Rudy Giuliani, the always colorful and outspoken lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump, says he is afraid his tombstone some day will say, "Rudy Giuliani: He Lied for Trump."
"I don't think that will be it," Giuliani told The New Yorker magazine in an interview. "But, if it is, so what do I care? I'll be dead."
Giuliani's flip remarks about his gravestone came as the former New York mayor is again embroiled in controversy over comments he made about Trump's links to Russia during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Giuliani on Sunday told NBC's Meet the Press that Trump's discussions with Russian officials over construction of a Trump Tower in Moscow went on throughout the time he was campaigning for the White House leading up to the November election, months longer than previously acknowledged. The timeline was also at odds with then-candidate Trump telling voters three years ago that he was not doing any business in Russia.
“It's our understanding that they went on throughout 2016," Giuliani said of discussions former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen had with Russian officials, adding that there "weren't a lot of them, but there were conversations. Can't be sure of the exact date."
Backtracking
By Monday, Giuliani sought to walk back his remarks.
"My recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow ‘project’ were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the president," Giuliani said. "My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions."
Giuliani added, "The point is that the proposal was in the earliest stage and did not advance beyond a free non-binding letter of intent."
Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about Trump's Moscow business deal, telling a congressional committee discussions ended in January 2016, to comport with what Trump was telling voters as he sought the Republican presidential nomination three years ago. But the New York lawyer more recently said he thought the talks about a Moscow Trump Tower ended in June 2016.
