Revealed: Rudy Giuliani interview with DOJ watchdog team on Hillary Clinton email investigation leaks

Rudy Giuliani's 2018 interview with the Justice Department inspector general's team in which he explained his "big surprises" tease during the 2016 election cycle was released to the public on Wednesday.

The Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, sued for access to the transcript and shared it with the Washington Post.

Giuliani, who spoke with agents for DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz in a room at former President Donald Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington, D.C., in February 2018, said it was okay to “throw a fake” when campaigning, the notes show. Marc Mukasey, Giuliani’s then-law partner and counselor, said, "There’s no obligation to tell the truth.”

The release of the lightly redacted transcript comes less than a week after the release of a DOJ inspector general report on the FBI’s “culture of unauthorized media contacts” in 2016, revealing investigators failed to identify FBI leakers from the 2016 presidential campaign while casting doubt on the notion Giuliani was the benefactor of leaks related to the bureau investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of an unauthorized email server.

Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City and federal prosecutor, backed Trump in 2016 and later became his personal attorney. During the interview with the DOJ inspector general's team, he had been asked about Trump’s campaign and told Fox News on Oct. 26, 2016, that “I think he’s got a surprise or two that you’re going to hear about in the next few days. I mean, I’m talking about some pretty big surprises."

Two days later, then-FBI Director James Comey informed Congress the FBI was reopening the Clinton email investigation. Clinton, then-Democratic presidential nominee, was criticized but not charged for using a private email server without approval during her time as secretary of state.

“The other rumor that I get is that there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI about the original conclusion being completely unjustified and almost a slap in the face to the FBI’s integrity. I know that from former agents. I know that even from a few active agents," Giuliani subsequently said on the radio.

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Horowitz said Giuliani appeared for a voluntary interview with his office and told the watchdog he had not received any information about ongoing FBI investigations, specifically saying Comey's statements were a "shock."

Giuliani “said he had not been in contact with any active FBI agents in October 2016, and stated he had only spoken with former agents who did not have any direct or indirect knowledge of FBI investigations in October 2016," the report said. Giuliani told Horowitz his use of the term “active” referred to retired FBI agents “still actively working in security and consulting.”

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Tags: News, Rudy Giuliani, Justice Department, Inspectors General, 2016 Elections, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Emails, Donald Trump

Original Author: Daniel Chaitin

Original Location: Revealed: Rudy Giuliani interview with DOJ watchdog team on Hillary Clinton email investigation leaks