Robert Mueller’s Trump-Russia collusion probe will wrap up within months, says Rudy Giuliani
Giuliani said that the September 1 end date was chosen to avoid affecting the US midterm elections in November, but a Justice Department insider has denied his claim
US President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has said that Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether Trump’s 2016 election campaign colluded with Russia will end by September 1, prompting a rebuke from within the Justice Department.
Giuliani told The New York Times on Sunday that the office of Robert Mueller – the special counsel who is leading the investigation – had shared the timeline some two weeks ago.
Trump, who has repeatedly described the investigation as a “witch hunt,” views it as a stain on his presidency and wants it over – an end Giuliani apparently sought to further through his comments on the probe’s conclusion.
“You don’t want another repeat of the 2016 election where you get contrary reports at the end and you don’t know how it affected the election,” he told the Times, referring to the investigation’s possible impact on midterm elections in November.
However, a source familiar with the probe called the September 1 deadline “entirely made-up” and “another apparent effort to pressure the special counsel to hasten the end of his work”.