Trump's lawyer unsure if collusion with Russia is a crime

Washington D. C. [USA]: Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer of United States President Donald Trump on Monday said the former was not sure whether collusion with Russia would be considered a crime.

Giuliani further denied the involvement of Trump's presidential campaign's former chairman, Paul Manafort, in intimate business relations with the US President, CNN reported.

Manafort is facing trial for bank and tax fraud charges levelled against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as part of his investigation into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election.

"Four months, they're not going to be colluding with Russia, which I don't even know if that's a crime, colluding about Russians. You start analyzing the crime, the hacking is the crime. The President didn't hack," Giuliani told CNN.

This comes despite legal experts saying that anyone found to be colluding with Russia will be liable to be charged with criminal offenses such as conspiracy.

Giuliani also said that he was not sure whether Trump would pardon his former legal counsel Michael Cohen, who is under a criminal investigation. He also said that recommendations for a meeting between Trump and Mueller by the former's legal team had not been responded to for more than a week by the latter's team.

Although Trump has strongly opposed views there was any collusion between Russia and his campaign, he has made similar remarks as Giuliani in the past, a New York Times report highlighted.

Also, ousted FBI Director James Comey had said at a CNN town hall in April that collusion was "not actually a thing that exists under the federal laws of the United States," adding that conspiring with a foreign government to commit crimes against the US was a crime.

Mueller, in his investigation which started in 2017, has levelled criminal charges against several Russian citizens, five American and one Dutch national, but has so far not uncovered any instance of Trump's campaign being involved in these activities.