After President Trump‘s personal lawyer John Dowd stepped down from Trump’s legal team last month, Trump has been seeking a replacement to defend him, in regard to the Russia investigation that has been clouding his presidency. On Thursday, former New York City Mayor and Trump loyalist, Rudy Giuliani, announced that he will be joining Trump’s legal team.
The former NYC prosecutor first told the news to the Washington Post on Thursday saying, “I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller.” Robert Mueller is currently the one heading the Special Counsel investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.
Trump lawyer, Jay Sekulow, also told the Post that two other former federal prosecutors, Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, will be joining the Trump legal team.
During the 2016 campaign, Giuliani was one of Trump’s most vocal supporters. Giuliani was often seen on Fox News defending the now president and even gave a high energy speech at the RNC convention prior to the election. On one Fox News appearance, Giuliani claimed that Trump went to him personally to ask how he could legally execute the controversial “Muslim ban” that was one of Trump’s first major executive orders that was blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii shortly after implementation.
After Trump was elected, Giuliani was reportedly in the running for the Attorney General job before pulling himself out of the running. That position is currently held by former Alabama Governor Jeff Sessions.
“Rudy is great,” Trump said in a statement to the Post. “He has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country.”
President Trump has continuously refers to the Russia investigation as a hoax and has even teased the idea of firing Mueller which could be bad for the President. Trump is reportedly being looked into for obstruction of justice as well after he fired former FBI director James Comey who was heading the Russia investigation before Mueller.
Trump admitted in an interview with Lester Holt last year that he fired Comey because of the Russia probe, but is now denying that this was the actual reason.
