Rudy Giuliani claimed ignorance on Sunday over reports that he was being investigated by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office, as he defended President Trump’s decision to remove its top prosecutor.
“I have no evidence they’re investigating me,” Giuliani said on AM 970’s “The Cats Roundtable” — a day after press reports questioned whether an ongoing investigation into him may have influenced Trump’s weekend decision to fire US Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
“They never subpoenaed a document. They never talked to any of my banks. I think that’s a malicious story put out by an unnamed source,” said Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney.
After first refusing to leave, Berman agreed to step down Saturday night, ending a daylong standoff with the Justice Department.
He said he complied after Attorney General William Barr backtracked on a demand that Berman’s successor be Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton.
In his radio interview on Sunday, Giuliani said Trump had the authority to remove Berman.
“When the president loses confidence in you, or the president wants to make a change . . . he appointed you, he can remove you,” said Giuliani, a former Manhattan US attorney.
When the DOJ announced Friday night that it would remove Berman, several press reports noted an ongoing investigation into Giuliani’s business dealings and into whether he failed to register as a foreign agent.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday that he hoped Berman would testify about his ouster.
“I certainly hope that he will come and testify before Congress, and I know Chairman Nadler intends to investigate this, and he should,” he told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).
“It’s, you know, I think the most disastrous management of the Justice Department in modern memory,” Schiff said. “And like so much of what we have seen from this administration, it doesn’t come as a surprise anymore, but yet, it’s completely demoralizing to the people in the department and dangerous to the rule of law.”