Rudy Giuliani Walks Back Comments Saying Trump Interfered With AT&T-Time Warner Merger
It seems Rudy Giuliani might’ve spoken out of turn once again, because he’s walking back his statements about President Donald Trump getting involved in the merger negotiations between AT&T and Time Warner.
Yesterday, the president bashed the “fake news” media while reacting to AT&T’s statement that it regrets paying $600,000 to his embattled personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. In the midst of all this, Giuliani continued his ongoing press tour by telling HuffPost that the president was behind the Justice Department’s efforts to halt the AT&T-Time Warner merger.
“The president denied the merger. They didn’t get the result they wanted,” said Giuliani. “Whatever lobbying was done didn’t reach the president.”
That comment set off alarm bells over the DOJ’s independence from the White House, as well as the possibility that Trump was interfering in U.S. markets — so Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders came out to tell reporters a different story.
WH Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders contradict’s Giuliani’s claim that the president “denied the deal” between ATT & Time Warner saying that the WH’s initial denial of POTUS’ involvement still stands. “The Department of Justice denied the deal,” Sanders tells me.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 12, 2018
Now it appears Giuliani is doubling back and telling CNN’s Dana Bash that Trump didn’t actually interfere with the merger talks.
New: While President Trump was opposed to the AT&T-Time Warner merger during the campaign and has been consistent on that, “he didn’t interfere” with the Justice Department case, Giuliani tells @DanaBashCNN. “He told me directly he didn’t interfere.”
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) May 12, 2018
The developments come amid reports of Trump’s growing frustration with Giuliani, and it also comes not very long after the former New York mayor had to walk back his statements about the president reimbursing Cohen for his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels – another conflicting story.
[Image via screengrab]
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