Rudy Giuliani suggests Russia collusion may not be a crime - but 'hacking' is

The president has dismissed the federal probe as a 'witch hunt'

Donald Trump’s top lawyer has suggested “colluding about” Russia may not be a crime, after it was reported the president knew in advance about a controversial meeting with a Kremlin-linked lawyer and his senior campaign staff.

In the latest pushback from the White House designed to undermine the Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, Rudy Giuliani said over the weekend the president was keen to probe wrapped up.

On Monday, he followed up by telling Fox News: “I have been sitting here looking in the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime. Collusion is not a crime.”

Later, speaking on CNN, he followed up by saying that the “hacking” of the Democratic National Committee’s emails was the crime.

“Colluding about Russia may not be a crime,” he said. “You start analysing the crime… the hacking is the crime. He did not hack.”

Over the weekend it was reported that Mr Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen has claimed the president knew in advance about a June 2016 meeting arranged by a Kremlin-lined lawyer and his eldest, Donald Trump Jr, and other senior members of his campaign team, at Trump Tower in New York.

The Trump team agreed to the meeting because they were told the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had dirt on Hillary Clinton. All parties insist no information changed hands and many experts believed it may be been a fishing expedition by the Russians.

CNN said Mr Cohen was ready to tell Mr Mueller he was present when Mr Trump was informed about the Russians’ offer by Mr Trump Jr.

At the time the meeting was revealed by the New York Times, Mr Trump claimed he knew nothing about the meeting and on Friday, he tweeted: “I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!”

Earlier this year, former FBI Director James Comey, whose firing by Mr Trump resulted in the appointment of Mr Mueller, said collusion “is not actually a thing that exists under the federal laws of the United States”.

Since Mr Mueller’s investigation began in the spring of 2017, the probe has resulted in criminal charges against several Russian nationals, five Americans and one Dutch citizen and three corporate entities. One of those people has already been sentenced and served a month in prison, while three others pleaded guilty and await sentencing.