Donald Trump called in to Fox Business on Thursday to rail against the FBI raid of Rudy Giuliani’s home and office the previous day as “like, so unfair.”
Agents seized computers and cell phones at both locations in Manhattan. The dramatic action marked an apparent major escalation of the Justice Department’s investigation into the business dealings of Trump’s former personal attorney, reportedly including his work in Ukraine.
“Rudy Giuliani is a great patriot,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo. “He does these things — he just loves this country, and they raid his apartment. It’s, like, so unfair, and such a double — it’s like a double standard, like I don’t think anybody’s ever seen before.”
“Rudy loves this country so much,” Trump added. “It is so terrible when you see things that are going on in our country, with the corruption and the problems. And then they go after Rudy Giuliani. It’s very sad, actually,” said Trump. He didn’t specify what corruption or problems he was referring to.
Giuliani admitted he pressured Ukrainian officials to announce investigations into unsubstantiated accusations of wrongdoing by now-President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. He has continually threatened to reveal details about the Bidens’ purported corruption but has yet to produce anything.
Trump was impeached for the first time in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after he pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call to “do us a favor” and come up with dirt on Biden or Biden’s son. Trump was holding back missiles that had been promised to Ukraine while the country was fending off the Russians. He brought up the “favor” he expected just after Zelensky emphasized how grateful his nation was for U.S. military aid.
Trump also asked Zelensky in the phone call to meet with Giuliani.
The Senate voted to acquit Trump on the impeachment charges.
On Thursday, Giuliani denied that the raids on his home and office had anything to do with Ukraine. But his attorney told Politico that they were related to his client’s failure to register as a foreign agent.
Andrii Artemenko, a former member of Ukraine’s Parliament, also told Politico that the FBI had reached out to him last year and that he told agents what he knew about Giuliani. He declined to provide details.
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen predicted in an interview on CNN Thursday that Giuliani would quickly “flip” on Trump.
“Prior to Donald becoming president, Rudy didn’t like Donald, and Donald certainly didn’t like Rudy,” Cohen said. “So do I think Rudy will give up Donald in a heartbeat? Absolutely. He certainly doesn’t want to follow my path.”
The FBI raided Cohen’s home and office in 2018, and he ended up serving three years for crimes he committed while working for Trump, including tax and bank fraud and lying to Congress.
On Wednesday, FBI agents also seized the cell phone of Victoria Toensing, another lawyer who has ties to Ukraine and remains close to Giuliani and Trump.
Check out Trump’s comments about the raids in the video at the top.
