Giuliani Spawns New Furor Over AT&T Scandal

CNN reports:

Rudy Giuliani just contradicted the White House and the Justice Department on a very sensitive subject: The AT&T-Time Warner deal. All along, the government has said that President Trump was not involved in blocking the $85 billion bid. Lawyers and White House aides have batted away speculation about improper political interference.

But on Friday night, Giuliani cast new doubt on those claims. “The president denied the merger,” Giuliani, a new member of President Trump’s legal team, said in an interview with HuffPost.

On Saturday morning, the White House said Giuliani got it wrong. “The Department of Justice denied the deal,” press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN Saturday morning, reiterating the administration’s past position.

Via Mediaite:

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.”

And as you can see below, Giuliani is already backtracking on what he claimed just last night. Obviously, he was spanked this morning by Aunt Lydia.

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

Why doesn’t the Fake News Media state that the Trump Administration’s Anti-Trust Division has been, and is, opposed to the AT&T purchase of Time Warner in a currently ongoing Trial. Such a disgrace in reporting!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2018