News
"No collusion" is likely one of the phrases President Donald Trump and his surrogates have used most frequently since he took office. On Wednesday night, however, Trump's lawyer made an extraordinary claim to CNN's Chris Cuomo about that oft-repeated statement. Specifically, Rudy Giuliani claimed to have never said there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, just that Trump himself hadn't participated. Rudy Giuliani's collusion comments left Twitter very confused for numerous reasons.
For one thing, it's a false statement, as the Washington Post noted. In July, Giuliani told Fox News contributor Guy Benson that Benson was "correct" in stating that it was "still the position of [Giuliani] and [Trump] that there was no collusion with the Russians whatsoever on behalf of the Trump campaign.”
Nevertheless, Giuliani took a very different stance when speaking with Cuomo on Wednesday. The former New York mayor claimed there was a lot of “false reporting” about the investigation into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russia. However, Cuomo didn't let the claim stand.
“Mr. Mayor, false reporting is saying that nobody in the campaign had any contacts with Russia,” Cuomo said. “False reporting is saying that there has been no suggestion of any kind of collusion between the campaign and any Russians.”
“You just misstated my position,” Giuliani told Cuomo in response. “I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign.”
This, unsurprisingly, set off a veritable explosion on Twitter.
First, Watch The Exchange
Because it actually did happen, and it evidently left everyone in disbelief.
One Snapshot Says A Lot
Numerous commentators noted that Chris Cuomo's face reflected a serious roller coaster of emotions — and that Giuliani also didn't exactly rein in his emoting.
More On Chris Cuomo's Face
Given the way Twitter responded to Cuomo's range of expressions, he wasn't the only one going through that facial sequence.
Now, To The Serious Stuff
If Giuliani is now (falsely) claiming that he only ever said that Trump didn't collude with the Russians, then maybe he knows that someone else on the campaign did collude with the Russians, as many people on Twitter suggested. Former campaign manager Paul Manafort, for example, is known to have shared election polling data with a Russian oligarch with ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, as the Guardian wrote.
Twitter Also Played Fact-Checker
After Giuliani made the false claim that Trump had only ever made claims about himself not colluding, Twitter stepped in to prove that the president had also made claims about no one on his campaign colluding.
Arguments Like This Aren't New
In 2016 and early 2017, numerous members of the Trump team claimed that no one had had any contacts with Russia, let alone any cooperation, as the Moscow Project documented. Now, after the media has revealed that there were indeed numerous communications between the Trump campaign and Russian nationals, the story has gradually changed, as Business Insider showed. To some on Twitter, this looked like just the latest evolution of the story.
What Does This Mean For The Campaign Team?
Twitter certainly had ideas about the answer to that.
Cuomo Didn't Let Giuliani's Falsehoods Stand
Twitter appreciated Cuomo's efforts to push back against what Giuliani was saying.
The GIF That Captured The Spirit Of The Whole Thing
Really, Kermit here could represent any number of things.
Cuomo Responds
Cuomo has offered numerous substantive thoughts on Twitter following his interview with Giuliani, but he also took a moment to comment on the element of his performance that truly went viral.
This isn't the first interview like this that the Trump administration has produced, and it likely won't be the last. But for now, at least you can fully appreciate what Giuliani started when he made that new claim about collusion and the Trump campaign.
