Rudy Giuliani joins Trump's legal team in Russia probe
April 20, 2018
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani will join US President Donald Trump's legal team handling Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow said on Thursday.
In a statement, Sekulow quoted Trump as saying, "Rudy is great. He has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country."
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Giuliani, a former prosecutor, has been appointed along with south Florida husband-and-wife defense lawyers Martin and Jane Raskin.
Trump has so far struggled to retain a top criminal lawyer to represent him in the Mueller investigation. Washington lawyer John Dowd, the most recent head of his legal team, resigned in March.
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The US president has been trying to decide if he should sit for questioning by Mueller's team. His legal team has met with investigators numerous times to define the scope of the questions he would be asked.
Russia has denied allegations that it interfered in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion between Russia and the US. He has previously called the Mueller probe a "witch hunt."
The new recruits
Giuliani had a notable career as a federal prosecutor before he became mayor of New York in 1994, a position he held until 2001.
He was the Manhattan US Attorney for much of the 1980s, during which he brought many high-profile cases aimed at insider trading on Wall Street, and prosecuted stock trader Ivan Boesky and the firm of Drexel Burnham Lambert.
Since he left the mayor's office, Giuliani has been in private practice, most recently at international law firm Greenberg Traurig.
Giuliani has been an outspoken supporter of Trump ever since the early days of his presidential campaign.
Martin Raskin led the criminal division for the US Attorney's Office in Miami in the early 1980s, while Jane Raskin prosecuted organized crime cases in Boston.
law/rt (AP, Reuters)