Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, said in an interview with The New Yorker that he is "afraid" his gravestone will say he "lied for Trump."
Giuliani was asked by the magazine on Sunday if he ever worried that "saying things for Trump, not always being truthful about it" would be his legacy.
"Absolutely," he responded. "I am afraid it will be on my gravestone. 'Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump. Somehow, I don't think that will be it. But, if it is, so what do I care? I’ll be dead."
"I figure I can explain it to St. Peter," he continued. "He will be on my side, because I am, so far ... I don’t think, as a lawyer, I ever said anything that’s untruthful. I have a sense of ethics that is as high as anybody you can imagine. I've been doing this forever. I am doing what I believe in. I may not always be right, but I am doing what I believe."
Giuliani rose to prominence as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and as mayor of New York City before making a failed bid for the White House in 2008.
Giuliani's interview with The New Yorker came after he walked back comments he made on the Sunday political talk shows. On NBC's "Meet the Press," Giuliani said team Trump's business negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow may have continued as late as November 2016 — months longer than the timeline the president's former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, provided prosecutors.
"The conversations lasted throughout parts of 2016. The president is not sure exactly when they ended. I would say Michael Cohen would have a much better recollection of it than the president," Giuliani said Sunday morning.
When pressed on what he meant by "throughout 2016," Giuliani added, "Could be up to as far as October, November. Our answers cover until the election."
Giuliani later released a statement saying his comments were only "hypothetical" in nature — not based on knowledge.
"My recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and then-candidate Donald Trump about a potential Trump Moscow 'project' were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the president," he said. "My comments did not represent the actual timing or circumstances of any such discussions."
A senior administration official on Tuesday criticized Giuliani’s recent public comments on the Russia investigation, telling NBC News they are "not helping" and questioning why he keeps appearing on TV: "If nothing good can come of it, don't do it."
