Japan's scandal-plagued Shinzo Abe eyes his place in history books
A trickle of revelations that damaged his standing in opinion polls and contributed to a sense of arrogance at the heart of government seems like a memory.
by Daniel Hurst / Aug.20.2018
TOKYO — Only a few months ago, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appeared to be in danger of losing his job as a series of cronyism scandals dragged his popularity to perilous lows.
To make matters worse, President Donald Trump was ratcheting up trade tensions with Japan, a long-term security ally, exposing the fragility of a personal relationship that Abe had worked hard to establish since Trump was elected in 2016.
Yet Abe is on the cusp of a remarkable political recovery. After stabilizing his position in opinion polls, he has emerged as the clear front-runner in a party leadership vote due next month, according to experts.
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Securing another three-year term as head of the dominant center-right party would put Abe on track to become the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history.
Backroom factional politics within his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are “lining up in Abe's favor,” said Kristi Govella, an assistant professor at the School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa — even as tariff disputes with the U.S. cast a shadow over Japan’s most significant international relationship.
“Given the volatility of recent American foreign policy under the Trump administration, it was inevitable that Abe would experience ups and downs in his relationship with the U.S. president,” she told NBC News. “More than in any personal rapport with Trump, Abe's advantage lies in his strength of expertise and skill on foreign policy issues in comparison to most other Japanese politicians.”
Abe is the second-longest serving leader in the G-7 after German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He wants to maintain pressure on North Korea until the regime takes concrete steps to denuclearize.
Abe has also helped to revive the trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which seemed to be at risk when Trump withdrew the U.S. from the original 12-country deal.
In both security and economics, Govella said, Abe had “a long track record of almost singularly strong foreign policy leadership, and particularly in times of uncertainty in international politics, the Japanese people see this as a valuable asset in a leader.”
Abe has dominated Japanese politics ever since he led the LDP to a landslide victory in the general election in 2012. He had a brief earlier stint as prime minister, from 2006 to 2007, but resigned because of unpopularity and personal health concerns.
Abe’s grip on power began to slip again last year as a result of twin scandals over alleged favoritism.
One involved a huge discount on state-owned land granted to a nationalistic educational group that was closely linked to Abe’s wife, Akie. The first lady had been named as the honorary principal of a proposed new elementary school before the controversy arose.
Image: Shinzo Abe, Melania Trump, Akie Abe, Donald TrumpPresident Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump dine with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and wife Akie Abe at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., on April 17.MANDEL NGAN / AFP - Getty Images
The other scandal hinged on suspected preferential treatment for Japan’s first new veterinary school in more than 50 years. It was proposed by an educational institution run by one of the prime minister’s long-time friends.
Abe repeatedly denied wrongdoing and even volunteered to resign if he was found to have been involved in the 85 percent discount on the land sale.
But the trickle of revelations damaged his standing in opinion polls and contributed to a sense of growing arrogance at the heart of government. The approval rating for Abe’s cabinet dropped to 26 percent in a poll by the Mainichi newspaper in July 2017.
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Amid rising tensions with North Korea, however, Abe seized the initiative by calling a snap general election late last year.
The fragmented opposition parties were not well prepared and the ruling coalition managed to retain a two-thirds majority in the lower house — providing Abe with a political lifeline.
Abe faced renewed dangers in March when the finance ministry admitted it had tampered with official documents surrounding talks with the elementary school operator, including removing references to Abe and the first lady before the files were presented to lawmakers investigating the sale.
Several finance ministry officials were disciplined, but prosecutors decided against laying formal criminal charges. The finance minister, Taro Aso, kept his job — an important development given that Aso also serves as deputy prime minister and is a powerful factional operator.
Experts say the largest factions have locked in behind Abe, giving him a big advantage in the forthcoming vote of his fellow lawmakers.
“As of now, Prime Minister Abe is the clear front-runner in the upcoming LDP leadership race,” Govella said. “Despite clear signs that the Japanese public continues to be unhappy about the domestic scandals that have plagued Abe in recent months, his support ratings have slowly recovered.”
Yu Uchiyama, from the Department of Advanced Social and International Studies at the University of Tokyo, said while the scandals have damaged Abe, the drip-feed of incremental revelations may have contributed to a sense of public fatigue.
He pointed to a Nikkei newspaper opinion poll showing that the Cabinet’s approval rating increased by 10 points, to 52 percent, from May to June, even though seven in 10 respondents did not think Abe’s explanations were satisfactory.
“It seems to mean that the people don't put much weight on the scandal issue any longer,” Uchiyama added.
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While approval ratings are a factor in the leadership machinations, the general public does not get a direct say on the LDP leadership. The party’s lawmakers have an equal share with its grass-roots membership in the first vote. If a runoff is needed, lawmakers dominate the second vote.
The only viable challenger is an Abe nemesis, Shigeru Ishiba, who has vowed to restore trust in politics and to speak up for those who have not felt the benefits of “Abenomics,” the prime minister's economic policy.
Ishiba has previously called for substantive changes to Japan’s “pacifist” constitution.
The constitution, which has not been changed since it was adopted after World War II, prohibits Japan from retaining a full-fledged military. Abe also wants to change this section of the constitution, but has proposed a minimalist amendment to codify the existence of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.
Ishiba, a former defense minister, was popular among grass-roots LDP members when he ran in 2012. He is still a strong candidate but is unlikely to secure enough votes from lawmakers and even from the broader LDP membership, according to Ryo Sahashi, a professor of international politics at Kanagawa University.
Abe’s advantage was boosted last month when Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister, pulled out of the race and urged his factional allies to support the incumbent.
The internal affairs minister, Seiko Noda, would become the first female prime minister if elected as LDP leader, but is expected to struggle to gain the 20 nominations needed to run.
Rising star Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of a former prime minister, is considered not yet ready for the top job.
One potential wildcard is Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on automotive imports — a move that would be more damaging to the Japanese economy than the steel and aluminum duties announced this year.
“If the U.S. were to announce automobile tariffs before the LDP election, it could complicate the leadership campaign, since it would test Abe’s claims to have forged a productive friendship with Trump,” said Tobias Harris, vice president of global consulting firm Teneo Intelligence.
If he’s still in power in November 2019, Abe would become Japan's longest-serving prime minister, totaling nearly eight years in office including his short earlier tenure.
With a lower house election able to be held as late as 2021, he appears to be in a good position to reach the milestone, although a poor showing by his party in the upper house election next year could affect his chances.
Monday, August 20, 2018
Brussels hopes for Ankara thaw after US-Turkey spat EU sees opportunity to woo Erdogan whose help it needs in Syria and over migration - Financial Times
August 20, 2018.
Brussels hopes for Ankara thaw after US-Turkey spat
EU sees opportunity to woo Erdogan whose help it needs in Syria and over migration
Mehreen Khan in Brussels, Laura Pitel in Istanbul and Tobias Buck in Berlin
As diplomatic relations between the US and Turkey slump to fresh lows, there is quiet optimism in Europe that Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s tussles with Donald Trump will help to strengthen Ankara’s strained ties with EU capitals.
“Erdogan is learning who his real enemies are — and it’s not Europe,” said one EU diplomat last week following a tumultuous period in which the Turkish government has traded tit-for-tat barbs with the White House and outlined emergency measures to stem a sharp slide in the lira.
Despite the financial turbulence in Ankara, EU officials point to a welcome thawing in tensions with Turkey, including the government's decision last week to release from prison two Greek soldiers suspected of espionage and the detained national head of Amnesty International.
That the release orders, long called for by the EU, came in the aftermath of Ankara’s spat with Washington was “no coincidence”, said one Brussels official.
It prompted Jean-Claude Juncker, EU commission president, to make some of the warmest remarks about Mr Erdogan’s government from Brussels in many months. “Turkey has nothing to fear from its European neighbours,” said Mr Juncker. “We want to see a democratic, stable and prosperous Turkey.”
Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU’s Greek commissioner for migration, said the move was an “important step for the relations between Turkey and Greece, and the EU as a whole”.
Ankara’s ties with European capitals were thrown into turmoil in the wake of a violent coup attempt in 2016. European leaders voiced alarm over the vast purge that followed, which was accompanied by a crackdown on media, civil society and the Kurdish opposition.
Turkey’s EU accession process was consigned to the deep freeze, while plans to grant visa-free travel to Turkish citizens to the Schengen passport-free area and an upgrade of a customs union agreement have become bogged down.
Mr Erdogan also accused Germany’s government of behaving like Nazis, hit out at Austria’s coalition for anti-Muslim bigotry, and branded the EU hypocrites over its treatment of Turkey.
Yet, conscious of the risks to the economy of such disputes with a bloc that is Turkey’s biggest trading partner, Ankara has quietly launched a drive for a reset.
In Brussels, there is renewed hope that Mr Erdogan’s flare-up with Washington will bring Turkey closer to the EU and help repair strained relations with a Nato ally whose co-operation they require in Syria and over migration.
A senior EU official said that despite Europe’s spats with Mr Erdogan, the union had clear interests in aligning with Turkey against Mr Trump’s economic aggression. “The geostrategic interests will dominate,” said the official.
Signs of a detente have been underlined by a series of telephone calls last week between the Turkish president and EU capitals, including to Germany’s Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron of France.
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, will also attend a gathering of his EU counterparts in Vienna at the end of August.
Top of Brussels’ concerns about Turkey’s stability is a landmark migration deal struck with Ankara that has helped staunch the flow of Syrian refugees into the continent since 2016.
Under the deal, EU governments have already committed to providing €3bn in aid, mostly to charities and non-governmental organisations working with nearly 4m Syrians in Turkey.
EU governments in June signed off on another €3bn commitment to be spread over 2019 and 2020. Diplomats say they are confident that Turkey’s economic troubles will not jeopardise the migrant accord.
“There is no incentive for Erdogan to complicate his relationship with Europe now, jeopardising visas, more cash and the refugee deal,” said Mujtaba Rahman, lead Europe analyst at Eurasia Group.
Turkey’s financial turmoil
A chance to reset Europe’s relations with Turkey
Europe’s main economic exposure to a financial collapse in Turkey is concentrated in pockets of its banking system. A German official said the spillover risks to Germany’s economy from Turkey were “manageable” but could become significant if the situation spiralled out of control.
“If you bear in mind how large their economy is, how close our trade relationship is and how many Turks live in Germany, it has the potential to become very dangerous,” he said.
But Brussels has limited financial tools to help a non-EU country in financial trouble.
The bloc’s main instrument of macro-financial assistance can only be activated in conjunction with an IMF bailout. Turkey has not yet made any request to the IMF for help. A senior EU official added that the EU was not yet exploring more “creative” ways to assist Turkey.
Although they have found common ground in their distaste for Mr Trump's actions, European officials also continue to be alarmed by erosion of the rule of law under Mr Erdogan’s watch.
At least seven German citizens remain behind bars in Turkey on charges that Berlin views as political. Diplomats stress that progress on accession talks or a customs union upgrade would still require a drastic change in the human rights situation.
Ministers in Berlin have also urged Turkey to release the US pastor Andrew Brunson, whose detention triggered the current row with the US administration. “That would make it considerably easier to solve the economic problems that exist,” said Heiko Maas, German foreign minister, last week.
George Washington’s Legacy Shows We Should Expect More From President Trump - TIME
George Washington’s Legacy Shows We Should Expect More From President Trump
By JOHN C. DANFORTH August 18, 2018
Danforth was a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri from 1976 to 1995.
Current political strategy is to discard the moderate center and energize the angry base. This is the approach of President Donald Trump and of an increasingly doctrinaire Democratic Party. It is a strategy of attempting to win elections by polarizing the country, and it raises the question of what Americans should expect from our leaders. We can have leaders who advance causes at the cost of driving us apart, or we can have leaders who rally us to a common purpose and hold us together. Trump is the archetype of divisive leadership. George Washington set the standard of a leader who united us.
Trump’s apologists say that they can overlook moral shortcomings, because they support his policies on taxes or regulations or his nominations to the Supreme Court. Washington’s personal qualities were more significant for his leadership than any positions he held on the issues of his day. His rectitude was central to his leadership, and his presence counted much more than his policies. He presided over the Constitutional Convention but barely participated in the debates. He became president by unanimous vote of the Electoral College without a stated platform. In office, he was a commanding personage who entrusted much of the development of policy to Alexander Hamilton.
Much taller than the average man of his time, he carried himself with great dignity. As a boy, he transcribed a long list of “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” His first rule was: “Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect to those that are Present.” Giving the appearance of being aloof, he was reticent in the company of others, and avoided expressing personal opinions. In conversation, he was comfortable with interludes of silence. He did not like large crowds or invasions into his personal space. As president, he reluctantly attended weekly “levees” where he greeted guests with polite bows without shaking hands. It’s impossible to imagine Washington leading crowds of thousands in chants of “Lock her up!” or publicly boasting about private parts, or paying for the silence of a porn star.
Washington was a nation builder whose demeanor united Americans. In war, he transformed a weak confederation of separate states and an assortment of citizen soldiers eager to return to their homes into a victorious army. As president, he commanded the allegiance of his combative cabinet members, Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In his farewell address, he pleaded with Americans to hold ourselves together as one people and avoid fragmenting into competing factions.
Washington’s dignified style that rallied our country to a common cause was intentional. He was well aware of his place in history and that he would create the precedent for what future presidents, indeed America, should be. As our first president, there were no models for him to follow. He became the model, and he applied himself to the task.
In a speech delivered after Washington’s death, his close observer and admirer, Gouverneur Morris, said of him, “So dignified his deportment, no man could approach him but with respect.” Then Morris provided an insight we would not imagine when we think about Washington’s lofty stature. He told us of Washington’s “tumultuous passions,” and said that “his wrath was terrible” and that there was “boiling in his bosom passion almost too mighty for a man.” Far from being blessed with innate equanimity, Washington was quite the opposite. It was his constant struggle to maintain the dignity that was his model for the presidency. In Morris’ words, “his first contest and first victory was over himself.” His biographer, Joseph J. Ellis, states that “Washington became the most notorious model of self-control in all of American history.”
By contrast, Trump shows no reticence or self-control. Without a governor, he says whatever pops into his head, on Twitter, in off-script comments, at home and abroad.
The legacy of George Washington is a presidency of civility and dignity that inspired his countrymen and held a nation together. It depended on self-control. The presidency of Trump is characterized by insults and coarseness that repel many Americans and drive a nation apart. It is the presidency of a man who does not control himself.
Our first president and our 45th offer contrasting examples of what we should expect from our leaders. It’s our responsibility to choose.
This op-ed is being co-published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Time Magazine.
By JOHN C. DANFORTH August 18, 2018
Danforth was a Republican U.S. senator from Missouri from 1976 to 1995.
Current political strategy is to discard the moderate center and energize the angry base. This is the approach of President Donald Trump and of an increasingly doctrinaire Democratic Party. It is a strategy of attempting to win elections by polarizing the country, and it raises the question of what Americans should expect from our leaders. We can have leaders who advance causes at the cost of driving us apart, or we can have leaders who rally us to a common purpose and hold us together. Trump is the archetype of divisive leadership. George Washington set the standard of a leader who united us.
Trump’s apologists say that they can overlook moral shortcomings, because they support his policies on taxes or regulations or his nominations to the Supreme Court. Washington’s personal qualities were more significant for his leadership than any positions he held on the issues of his day. His rectitude was central to his leadership, and his presence counted much more than his policies. He presided over the Constitutional Convention but barely participated in the debates. He became president by unanimous vote of the Electoral College without a stated platform. In office, he was a commanding personage who entrusted much of the development of policy to Alexander Hamilton.
Much taller than the average man of his time, he carried himself with great dignity. As a boy, he transcribed a long list of “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” His first rule was: “Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect to those that are Present.” Giving the appearance of being aloof, he was reticent in the company of others, and avoided expressing personal opinions. In conversation, he was comfortable with interludes of silence. He did not like large crowds or invasions into his personal space. As president, he reluctantly attended weekly “levees” where he greeted guests with polite bows without shaking hands. It’s impossible to imagine Washington leading crowds of thousands in chants of “Lock her up!” or publicly boasting about private parts, or paying for the silence of a porn star.
Washington was a nation builder whose demeanor united Americans. In war, he transformed a weak confederation of separate states and an assortment of citizen soldiers eager to return to their homes into a victorious army. As president, he commanded the allegiance of his combative cabinet members, Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. In his farewell address, he pleaded with Americans to hold ourselves together as one people and avoid fragmenting into competing factions.
Washington’s dignified style that rallied our country to a common cause was intentional. He was well aware of his place in history and that he would create the precedent for what future presidents, indeed America, should be. As our first president, there were no models for him to follow. He became the model, and he applied himself to the task.
In a speech delivered after Washington’s death, his close observer and admirer, Gouverneur Morris, said of him, “So dignified his deportment, no man could approach him but with respect.” Then Morris provided an insight we would not imagine when we think about Washington’s lofty stature. He told us of Washington’s “tumultuous passions,” and said that “his wrath was terrible” and that there was “boiling in his bosom passion almost too mighty for a man.” Far from being blessed with innate equanimity, Washington was quite the opposite. It was his constant struggle to maintain the dignity that was his model for the presidency. In Morris’ words, “his first contest and first victory was over himself.” His biographer, Joseph J. Ellis, states that “Washington became the most notorious model of self-control in all of American history.”
By contrast, Trump shows no reticence or self-control. Without a governor, he says whatever pops into his head, on Twitter, in off-script comments, at home and abroad.
The legacy of George Washington is a presidency of civility and dignity that inspired his countrymen and held a nation together. It depended on self-control. The presidency of Trump is characterized by insults and coarseness that repel many Americans and drive a nation apart. It is the presidency of a man who does not control himself.
Our first president and our 45th offer contrasting examples of what we should expect from our leaders. It’s our responsibility to choose.
This op-ed is being co-published by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Time Magazine.
Trump lawyers worried over White House counsel Don McGahn's testimony to Mueller investigation - Independent
August 20, 2018.
Trump lawyers worried over White House counsel Don McGahn's testimony to Mueller investigation
Growing recognition from president's legal team that early strategy of full cooperation with Russia investigation may have been damaging
Maggie Haberman
Michael S. Schmidt
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President Donald Trump’s lawyers do not know just how much the White House counsel, Don McGahn, told the special counsel’s investigators during months of interviews, a lapse that has contributed to a growing recognition that an early strategy of full cooperation with the inquiry was a potentially damaging mistake.
The president’s lawyers said on Sunday they were confident Mr McGahn had said nothing injurious to the president during the 30 hours of interviews. But Mr McGahn’s lawyer has offered only a limited accounting of what Mr McGahn told the investigators, according to two people close to the president.
That has prompted concern among Mr Trump’s advisers that Mr McGahn’s statements could help serve as a key component for a damning report by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, which the Justice Department could send to Congress, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Giuliani says 'truth isn't truth' over risks of Mueller interview
Mr Trump’s lawyers realised on Saturday they had not been provided a full accounting after The New York Times published an article describing Mr McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mr Mueller’s office. After Mr McGahn was initially interviewed by the special counsel’s office in November, Mr Trump’s lawyers never asked for a complete description of what Mr McGahn had said, according to a person close to the president.
Mr McGahn’s lawyer, William A. Burck, gave the president’s lawyers a short overview of the interview but few details, and he did not inform them of what Mr McGahn said in subsequent interactions with the investigators, according to a person close to Mr Trump. Mr McGahn and Mr Burck feared that Mr Trump was setting up Mr McGahn to take the blame for any possible wrongdoing, so they embraced the opening to cooperate fully with Mr Mueller in an effort to demonstrate that Mr McGahn had done nothing wrong.
On Sunday, Mr Trump’s lead lawyer dealing with the special counsel, Rudy Giuliani, appeared to acknowledge that he had only a partial understanding of what Mr McGahn had revealed. Mr Giuliani said his knowledge was second-hand, given to him by a former Trump lawyer, John Dowd, who was one of the primary forces behind the initial strategy of full cooperation.
“I’ll use his words rather than mine, that McGahn was a strong witness for the president, so I don’t need to know much more about that,” Mr Giuliani said of Mr Dowd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
But Mr McGahn, who as White House counsel is not the president’s personal lawyer, has repeatedly made clear to the president that his role is as a protector of the presidency, not of Mr Trump personally.
Legal experts and former White House counsels said the president’s lawyers had been careless in not asking Mr McGahn what he had planned to tell Mr Mueller’s prosecutors. The experts said Mr Trump’s lawyers had the right to know the full extent of what Mr McGahn was going to say.
inRead invented by Teads
Robert F. Bauer, a White House counsel under President Barack Obama, said Mr McGahn’s lawyer may have taken the most prudent course for his client by not addressing “each and every detail about the questions that were specifically asked and the specific answers given.”
In its article, The Times said Mr McGahn had shared detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the investigation into whether Mr Trump obstructed justice in the Russia inquiry. Some of the episodes – like Mr Trump’s attempt to fire Mr Mueller last summer – would not have been revealed to investigators without Mr McGahn’s help.
The article set off a scramble on Saturday among Mr Trump’s lawyers and advisers. The president, sequestered at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, solicited opinions from a small group of advisers on the possible repercussions from the article. The president ordered Mr Giuliani to tell reporters that the article was wrong, but Mr Giuliani did not go that far in his television appearances.
The report by The Times also reignited a debate about whether Mr Trump had been given bad advice by his former lawyers Mr Dowd and Ty Cobb to allow full cooperation with Mr Mueller’s team, including by waiving attorney-client privilege. Mr Dowd and Mr Cobb believed the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong and bring a swifter end to the investigation.
But the strategy “put Don McGahn in an impossible situation, because once you waive that privilege and you turn over all those documents, Don McGahn has no choice then but to go in and answer everything, every question they could ask him,” Chris Christie, a former US attorney and a close ally of Mr Trump, said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
The Times reported that Mr McGahn, over at least three interviews, laid out how Mr Trump had tried to ensure control of the special counsel investigation. Mr McGahn gave a mix of damaging and favourable information about the president, but he said Mr Trump did not go beyond his legal authorities as president.
Although Mr Trump’s lawyers have little idea what Mr McGahn told investigators, they said on Saturday and Sunday that Mr McGahn had helped the president.
In an email to members of Mr Trump’s legal team and other associates, which was obtained by The Times, Mr Dowd said he had made the right choice in urging cooperation.
“We protected President by not asserting attorney-client privilege,” Mr Dowd wrote. He added that, had the lawyers forced the Mueller team to subpoena witnesses, they would have lost the ability to exert privilege over witnesses and documents.
Still, Mr Trump was rattled by The Times report, according to people familiar with his thinking. The president, who is said to be obsessed with the role John W. Dean, the White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, played as an informant during Watergate, was jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr McGahn had shared.
Mr Trump lashed out about the report on Twitter, saying that The Times had falsely insinuated that Mr McGahn had “turned” on him.
Last fall, Mr McGahn believed he was being set up to be blamed for any wrongdoing by the president in part because of an article published in The Times in September, which described a conversation that a reporter had overheard between Mr Dowd and Mr Cobb.
In the conversation – which occurred over lunch at a table on the sidewalk outside the Washington steakhouse BLT – Mr Cobb discussed the White House’s production of documents to Mr Mueller’s office. Mr Cobb talked about how Mr McGahn was opposed to cooperation and had documents locked in his safe.
After the account of the lunch conversation was published, Mr McGahn became convinced that Mr Cobb believed he was hiding documents. Concerned that he would be blamed, he decided to try to demonstrate to Mr Mueller that he and other White House lawyers had done nothing wrong.
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As Mr Trump’s lawyers have shifted to a more antagonistic approach towards Mr Mueller, it has seemed increasingly unlikely that Mr Trump will sit for a voluntary interview. On “Meet the Press,” Mr Giuliani repeated his fear of a “perjury trap.”
“It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” Mr Giuliani said of any statements by the president in such an interview.
“Truth is truth,” the show’s host, Chuck Todd, answered.
“No, it isn’t truth,” Mr Giuliani replied. “Truth isn’t truth.”
The New York Times
Trump lawyers worried over White House counsel Don McGahn's testimony to Mueller investigation
Growing recognition from president's legal team that early strategy of full cooperation with Russia investigation may have been damaging
Maggie Haberman
Michael S. Schmidt
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President Donald Trump’s lawyers do not know just how much the White House counsel, Don McGahn, told the special counsel’s investigators during months of interviews, a lapse that has contributed to a growing recognition that an early strategy of full cooperation with the inquiry was a potentially damaging mistake.
The president’s lawyers said on Sunday they were confident Mr McGahn had said nothing injurious to the president during the 30 hours of interviews. But Mr McGahn’s lawyer has offered only a limited accounting of what Mr McGahn told the investigators, according to two people close to the president.
That has prompted concern among Mr Trump’s advisers that Mr McGahn’s statements could help serve as a key component for a damning report by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, which the Justice Department could send to Congress, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Giuliani says 'truth isn't truth' over risks of Mueller interview
Mr Trump’s lawyers realised on Saturday they had not been provided a full accounting after The New York Times published an article describing Mr McGahn’s extensive cooperation with Mr Mueller’s office. After Mr McGahn was initially interviewed by the special counsel’s office in November, Mr Trump’s lawyers never asked for a complete description of what Mr McGahn had said, according to a person close to the president.
Mr McGahn’s lawyer, William A. Burck, gave the president’s lawyers a short overview of the interview but few details, and he did not inform them of what Mr McGahn said in subsequent interactions with the investigators, according to a person close to Mr Trump. Mr McGahn and Mr Burck feared that Mr Trump was setting up Mr McGahn to take the blame for any possible wrongdoing, so they embraced the opening to cooperate fully with Mr Mueller in an effort to demonstrate that Mr McGahn had done nothing wrong.
On Sunday, Mr Trump’s lead lawyer dealing with the special counsel, Rudy Giuliani, appeared to acknowledge that he had only a partial understanding of what Mr McGahn had revealed. Mr Giuliani said his knowledge was second-hand, given to him by a former Trump lawyer, John Dowd, who was one of the primary forces behind the initial strategy of full cooperation.
“I’ll use his words rather than mine, that McGahn was a strong witness for the president, so I don’t need to know much more about that,” Mr Giuliani said of Mr Dowd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
But Mr McGahn, who as White House counsel is not the president’s personal lawyer, has repeatedly made clear to the president that his role is as a protector of the presidency, not of Mr Trump personally.
Legal experts and former White House counsels said the president’s lawyers had been careless in not asking Mr McGahn what he had planned to tell Mr Mueller’s prosecutors. The experts said Mr Trump’s lawyers had the right to know the full extent of what Mr McGahn was going to say.
inRead invented by Teads
Robert F. Bauer, a White House counsel under President Barack Obama, said Mr McGahn’s lawyer may have taken the most prudent course for his client by not addressing “each and every detail about the questions that were specifically asked and the specific answers given.”
In its article, The Times said Mr McGahn had shared detailed accounts about the episodes at the heart of the investigation into whether Mr Trump obstructed justice in the Russia inquiry. Some of the episodes – like Mr Trump’s attempt to fire Mr Mueller last summer – would not have been revealed to investigators without Mr McGahn’s help.
The article set off a scramble on Saturday among Mr Trump’s lawyers and advisers. The president, sequestered at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, solicited opinions from a small group of advisers on the possible repercussions from the article. The president ordered Mr Giuliani to tell reporters that the article was wrong, but Mr Giuliani did not go that far in his television appearances.
The report by The Times also reignited a debate about whether Mr Trump had been given bad advice by his former lawyers Mr Dowd and Ty Cobb to allow full cooperation with Mr Mueller’s team, including by waiving attorney-client privilege. Mr Dowd and Mr Cobb believed the cooperation would help prove that the president had done nothing wrong and bring a swifter end to the investigation.
But the strategy “put Don McGahn in an impossible situation, because once you waive that privilege and you turn over all those documents, Don McGahn has no choice then but to go in and answer everything, every question they could ask him,” Chris Christie, a former US attorney and a close ally of Mr Trump, said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
The Times reported that Mr McGahn, over at least three interviews, laid out how Mr Trump had tried to ensure control of the special counsel investigation. Mr McGahn gave a mix of damaging and favourable information about the president, but he said Mr Trump did not go beyond his legal authorities as president.
Although Mr Trump’s lawyers have little idea what Mr McGahn told investigators, they said on Saturday and Sunday that Mr McGahn had helped the president.
In an email to members of Mr Trump’s legal team and other associates, which was obtained by The Times, Mr Dowd said he had made the right choice in urging cooperation.
“We protected President by not asserting attorney-client privilege,” Mr Dowd wrote. He added that, had the lawyers forced the Mueller team to subpoena witnesses, they would have lost the ability to exert privilege over witnesses and documents.
Still, Mr Trump was rattled by The Times report, according to people familiar with his thinking. The president, who is said to be obsessed with the role John W. Dean, the White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon, played as an informant during Watergate, was jolted by the notion that he did not know what Mr McGahn had shared.
Mr Trump lashed out about the report on Twitter, saying that The Times had falsely insinuated that Mr McGahn had “turned” on him.
Last fall, Mr McGahn believed he was being set up to be blamed for any wrongdoing by the president in part because of an article published in The Times in September, which described a conversation that a reporter had overheard between Mr Dowd and Mr Cobb.
In the conversation – which occurred over lunch at a table on the sidewalk outside the Washington steakhouse BLT – Mr Cobb discussed the White House’s production of documents to Mr Mueller’s office. Mr Cobb talked about how Mr McGahn was opposed to cooperation and had documents locked in his safe.
After the account of the lunch conversation was published, Mr McGahn became convinced that Mr Cobb believed he was hiding documents. Concerned that he would be blamed, he decided to try to demonstrate to Mr Mueller that he and other White House lawyers had done nothing wrong.
Trump-appointed judge rules Mueller investigation is constitutional
Donald Trump would deport Melania if she divorced him, claims Omarosa
Trump's top White House lawyer 'cooperating with Mueller probe'
Mueller says former Trump aide should spend six months in jail
Trump should reset relations with Russia to counter China's influence
As Mr Trump’s lawyers have shifted to a more antagonistic approach towards Mr Mueller, it has seemed increasingly unlikely that Mr Trump will sit for a voluntary interview. On “Meet the Press,” Mr Giuliani repeated his fear of a “perjury trap.”
“It’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth,” Mr Giuliani said of any statements by the president in such an interview.
“Truth is truth,” the show’s host, Chuck Todd, answered.
“No, it isn’t truth,” Mr Giuliani replied. “Truth isn’t truth.”
The New York Times
Crazy Rich Asians tops US box office in weekend debut - BBC News
August 20, 2018.
Crazy Rich Asians tops US box office in weekend debut
'Crazy Rich Asians' is seen as a turning point for Asian representation in Hollywood
Crazy Rich Asians beat expectations to take the top spot at the US box office on its opening weekend.
The Warner Brothers film starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding is the first romantic comedy in three years to take the top spot.
Since opening five days ago, the film - which cost $30m (£23.5m) - has made an estimated $34m (£26.7m).
It is the first major Hollywood film since The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago to feature an all-Asian cast.
Adapted from Kevin Kwan's bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of an Asian-American woman who gets a culture shock meeting her boyfriend's ultra-wealthy family in Singapore.
Analysts have said its universal themes and entertainment value proved popular with moviegoers.
'Culturally significant'
Asian-American actress Constance Wu plays the lead role of Rachel Chu
Jeff Goldstein, Warner Brothers head of domestic distribution, said word of mouth had been key to the film's success.
"This movie is so culturally significant and so unique in that there hasn't been a cast that's predominately Asian [in years]. This is one of those few projects that a whole studio comes together with lots of passion."
Why Crazy Rich Asians could never please all
Seen as a turning point for on-screen representation, high profile, affluent Asian-Americans started a social media movement known as the #GoldOpen campaign.
The campaign offered free screenings across the US to promote the film and raise awareness about the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood.
The film took more than $25m (£19.6m) at the box office over the weekend, which appears to validate the filmmakers' decision to turn down a lucrative Netflix deal in favour of a riskier cinema release through a Hollywood studio.
In second place was the shark thriller The Meg, which earned $21.2m (£16.6m), while the Mark Wahlberg-led action movie Mile 22 placed third, with $13.6m (£10.7m).
Billionaire Boys Club was Kevin Spacey's first film release since sexual assault allegations surfaced
It wasn't such a good weekend for Kevin Spacey's new film, Billionaire Boys Club, which took a record breaking low of $126 (£98) on its opening night in US cinemas.
The film was the last project the actor worked on before sexual assault allegations began to surface, some which dated back more than 30 years.
Billionaire Boys Club had a host of big names on board, including Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton, but failed to attract the attention of many cinemas, opening in just 10 US cities.
Spacey and Elgort's last film together, 2017's Baby Driver, took more than $20m (£15.7m) at the box office in its opening weekend.
Kevin Spacey was first accused of sexual advances in November by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged an advance had been made in 1986 when he was 14 and Mr Spacey was 26.
Mr Spacey claimed to have no memory of the events, but publicly apologised. He has since issued an "absolute" denial of the other allegations that later emerged.
Crazy Rich Asians tops US box office in weekend debut
'Crazy Rich Asians' is seen as a turning point for Asian representation in Hollywood
Crazy Rich Asians beat expectations to take the top spot at the US box office on its opening weekend.
The Warner Brothers film starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding is the first romantic comedy in three years to take the top spot.
Since opening five days ago, the film - which cost $30m (£23.5m) - has made an estimated $34m (£26.7m).
It is the first major Hollywood film since The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago to feature an all-Asian cast.
Adapted from Kevin Kwan's bestseller, Crazy Rich Asians tells the story of an Asian-American woman who gets a culture shock meeting her boyfriend's ultra-wealthy family in Singapore.
Analysts have said its universal themes and entertainment value proved popular with moviegoers.
'Culturally significant'
Asian-American actress Constance Wu plays the lead role of Rachel Chu
Jeff Goldstein, Warner Brothers head of domestic distribution, said word of mouth had been key to the film's success.
"This movie is so culturally significant and so unique in that there hasn't been a cast that's predominately Asian [in years]. This is one of those few projects that a whole studio comes together with lots of passion."
Why Crazy Rich Asians could never please all
Seen as a turning point for on-screen representation, high profile, affluent Asian-Americans started a social media movement known as the #GoldOpen campaign.
The campaign offered free screenings across the US to promote the film and raise awareness about the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood.
The film took more than $25m (£19.6m) at the box office over the weekend, which appears to validate the filmmakers' decision to turn down a lucrative Netflix deal in favour of a riskier cinema release through a Hollywood studio.
In second place was the shark thriller The Meg, which earned $21.2m (£16.6m), while the Mark Wahlberg-led action movie Mile 22 placed third, with $13.6m (£10.7m).
Billionaire Boys Club was Kevin Spacey's first film release since sexual assault allegations surfaced
It wasn't such a good weekend for Kevin Spacey's new film, Billionaire Boys Club, which took a record breaking low of $126 (£98) on its opening night in US cinemas.
The film was the last project the actor worked on before sexual assault allegations began to surface, some which dated back more than 30 years.
Billionaire Boys Club had a host of big names on board, including Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton, but failed to attract the attention of many cinemas, opening in just 10 US cities.
Spacey and Elgort's last film together, 2017's Baby Driver, took more than $20m (£15.7m) at the box office in its opening weekend.
Kevin Spacey was first accused of sexual advances in November by actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged an advance had been made in 1986 when he was 14 and Mr Spacey was 26.
Mr Spacey claimed to have no memory of the events, but publicly apologised. He has since issued an "absolute" denial of the other allegations that later emerged.
Greece emerges from eurozone bailout programme - BBC News
August 20, 2018.
Greece emerges from eurozone bailout programme
Athens faces years of austerity
Greece has successfully completed a three-year eurozone emergency loan programme worth €61.9bn (£55bn; $70.8bn) to tackle its debt crisis.
It was part of the biggest bailout in global financial history, totalling some €289bn, which will take the country decades to repay.
Deeply unpopular cuts to public spending, a condition of the bailout, are set to continue.
But for the first time in eight years, Greece can borrow at market rates.
Mark Lowen
✔
@marklowen
"We contemplated suicide a lot. But we said no, we struggled". After 8 years #Greece exits its bailout today. Austerity had a crippling impact. I covered the crisis as Athens correspondent and returned to see Greece's progress. With @timfacey @KallergisK https://vimeo.com/285782539?ref=tw-share …
4:37 PM - Aug 20, 2018
The economy has grown slowly in recent years and is still 25% smaller than when the crisis began.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), only four countries have shrunk economically more than Greece in the past decade: Yemen, Libya, Venezuela and Equatorial Guinea.
The last €61.9bn was provided by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in support of the Greek government's efforts to reform the economy and recapitalise banks.
The bailout - the term given to emergency loans aimed at saving the sinking Greek economy - began in 2010, when eurozone states and the IMF came together to provide a first tranche of €20bn.
The European single currency had fallen to its lowest level against the dollar since 2006 and there were fears the debt crisis in Greece would undermine Europe's recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis.
Former Prime Minister George Papandreou saw his government crumble after agreeing to the bailout
At the worst moments of the crisis, there were doubts about whether the eurozone would survive at all. There seemed to be a real possibility that Greece and perhaps others might have to give up the euro.
The response included bailout loans, for a total of five countries, and a promise from the European Central Bank that it would, if necessary, buy the government debts of countries in danger of being forced out of the eurozone.
Set up by eurozone states, the ESM had been prepared to provide a further $27bn to Greece but said the country had not needed to call on it.
"Greece can stand on its own feet," said ESM chairman Mario Centeno.
'I can't buy my little grandchildren a present'
By Mark Lowen, BBC News, Athens
Tassos Smetopoulos and his team of volunteers run a food handout in central Athens.
"The numbers are actually rising," he says, chopping up vegetables for a huge pot to serve to those who wait. "The bailout might be ending on paper - but not in reality."
Fifty-four-year-old Fotini, who was laid off three years ago, is one of the few who will speak openly. This proud nation has struggled to accept its loss of dignity.
"I don't see the crisis coming to an end," she says. "We are stressed and angry because we don't have jobs. I'm embarrassed that I can't buy my little grandchildren a present. We just want to live comfortably in our own homes so we can look our children in the eyes."
How are Greeks coping?
At the height of the crisis, unemployment soared to 28% but today it is 19.5%.
Chemistry graduate Panagiota Kalliakmani has gone from the lab to the kitchen
Those employed often have jobs for which they are overqualified, such as chemistry graduate Panagiota Kalliakmani, 34.
Seeing career prospects in her home city of Thessaloniki shattered, she is now finding work as a chef.
"The crisis was a slap in the face," she told AFP news agency. "We had grown up accustomed to the benefits of living in a European country and suddenly everything came crashing down."
"Nothing is certain," she added. "The crisis taught us not to make long-term plans."
Some 300,000 Greeks have emigrated in search of work since the crisis began while those depending on state benefits have seen their income whittled away.
Yorgos Vagelakos and his wife live in a suburb of Athens
Yorgos Vagelakos, an 81-year-old retired factory worker, took home a pension and benefits amounting to €1,250 before the debt crisis.
Today he gets €685 and his debts are growing, he told Reuters news agency. He can no longer support the families of his two sons and can barely cover his and his wife's needs.
"I wake up in the morning to a nightmare," he said. "How will I manage my finances and my responsibilities? This is what I wake up to every morning."
Has the pressure eased off?
Greece's freedom to manage its own economic affairs will be tempered by enhanced surveillance from the European Union's executive, the European Commission.
This is designed to ensure Athens does not backtrack on reforms agreed with its lenders.
Professor Costas Meghir, an economist with Yale University based in the Greek capital Athens, warned that the end of the bailout programme did not mean the Greek economy's problems had been solved.
"It's of course a very important milestone, both psychologically and in practice but it doesn't mean that the problems are over," he told the BBC.
"It doesn't mean that austerity is over either. In some sense, the Greek government has to be even more disciplined now, because it has to rely on foreign markets at reasonable interest rates to be able to borrow.
"Austerity can only end once pro-growth policies are put in place that would allow flourishing of investing, for direct investment and of business more generally and this hasn't really happened to a sufficient extent yet."
What does the Greek milestone mean for Europe?
Professor Kevin Featherstone, director of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics, said Greece had helped to safeguard the future of the eurozone by agreeing to the terms of the bailout programme.
"For a political system to have gone through these years of austerity, this depth of economic hardship, and maintained a functioning society, a functioning democracy, is testament to the robustness of Greece as a modern state," he said. "Greece has saved the euro."
Greece emerges from eurozone bailout programme
Athens faces years of austerity
Greece has successfully completed a three-year eurozone emergency loan programme worth €61.9bn (£55bn; $70.8bn) to tackle its debt crisis.
It was part of the biggest bailout in global financial history, totalling some €289bn, which will take the country decades to repay.
Deeply unpopular cuts to public spending, a condition of the bailout, are set to continue.
But for the first time in eight years, Greece can borrow at market rates.
Mark Lowen
✔
@marklowen
"We contemplated suicide a lot. But we said no, we struggled". After 8 years #Greece exits its bailout today. Austerity had a crippling impact. I covered the crisis as Athens correspondent and returned to see Greece's progress. With @timfacey @KallergisK https://vimeo.com/285782539?ref=tw-share …
4:37 PM - Aug 20, 2018
The economy has grown slowly in recent years and is still 25% smaller than when the crisis began.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), only four countries have shrunk economically more than Greece in the past decade: Yemen, Libya, Venezuela and Equatorial Guinea.
The last €61.9bn was provided by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) in support of the Greek government's efforts to reform the economy and recapitalise banks.
The bailout - the term given to emergency loans aimed at saving the sinking Greek economy - began in 2010, when eurozone states and the IMF came together to provide a first tranche of €20bn.
The European single currency had fallen to its lowest level against the dollar since 2006 and there were fears the debt crisis in Greece would undermine Europe's recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis.
Former Prime Minister George Papandreou saw his government crumble after agreeing to the bailout
At the worst moments of the crisis, there were doubts about whether the eurozone would survive at all. There seemed to be a real possibility that Greece and perhaps others might have to give up the euro.
The response included bailout loans, for a total of five countries, and a promise from the European Central Bank that it would, if necessary, buy the government debts of countries in danger of being forced out of the eurozone.
Set up by eurozone states, the ESM had been prepared to provide a further $27bn to Greece but said the country had not needed to call on it.
"Greece can stand on its own feet," said ESM chairman Mario Centeno.
'I can't buy my little grandchildren a present'
By Mark Lowen, BBC News, Athens
Tassos Smetopoulos and his team of volunteers run a food handout in central Athens.
"The numbers are actually rising," he says, chopping up vegetables for a huge pot to serve to those who wait. "The bailout might be ending on paper - but not in reality."
Fifty-four-year-old Fotini, who was laid off three years ago, is one of the few who will speak openly. This proud nation has struggled to accept its loss of dignity.
"I don't see the crisis coming to an end," she says. "We are stressed and angry because we don't have jobs. I'm embarrassed that I can't buy my little grandchildren a present. We just want to live comfortably in our own homes so we can look our children in the eyes."
How are Greeks coping?
At the height of the crisis, unemployment soared to 28% but today it is 19.5%.
Chemistry graduate Panagiota Kalliakmani has gone from the lab to the kitchen
Those employed often have jobs for which they are overqualified, such as chemistry graduate Panagiota Kalliakmani, 34.
Seeing career prospects in her home city of Thessaloniki shattered, she is now finding work as a chef.
"The crisis was a slap in the face," she told AFP news agency. "We had grown up accustomed to the benefits of living in a European country and suddenly everything came crashing down."
"Nothing is certain," she added. "The crisis taught us not to make long-term plans."
Some 300,000 Greeks have emigrated in search of work since the crisis began while those depending on state benefits have seen their income whittled away.
Yorgos Vagelakos and his wife live in a suburb of Athens
Yorgos Vagelakos, an 81-year-old retired factory worker, took home a pension and benefits amounting to €1,250 before the debt crisis.
Today he gets €685 and his debts are growing, he told Reuters news agency. He can no longer support the families of his two sons and can barely cover his and his wife's needs.
"I wake up in the morning to a nightmare," he said. "How will I manage my finances and my responsibilities? This is what I wake up to every morning."
Has the pressure eased off?
Greece's freedom to manage its own economic affairs will be tempered by enhanced surveillance from the European Union's executive, the European Commission.
This is designed to ensure Athens does not backtrack on reforms agreed with its lenders.
Professor Costas Meghir, an economist with Yale University based in the Greek capital Athens, warned that the end of the bailout programme did not mean the Greek economy's problems had been solved.
"It's of course a very important milestone, both psychologically and in practice but it doesn't mean that the problems are over," he told the BBC.
"It doesn't mean that austerity is over either. In some sense, the Greek government has to be even more disciplined now, because it has to rely on foreign markets at reasonable interest rates to be able to borrow.
"Austerity can only end once pro-growth policies are put in place that would allow flourishing of investing, for direct investment and of business more generally and this hasn't really happened to a sufficient extent yet."
What does the Greek milestone mean for Europe?
Professor Kevin Featherstone, director of the Hellenic Observatory at the London School of Economics, said Greece had helped to safeguard the future of the eurozone by agreeing to the terms of the bailout programme.
"For a political system to have gone through these years of austerity, this depth of economic hardship, and maintained a functioning society, a functioning democracy, is testament to the robustness of Greece as a modern state," he said. "Greece has saved the euro."
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani: Truth isn't truth - BBC News
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani: Truth isn't truth
19 August 2018
President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has raised eyebrows by claiming that "truth isn't truth" during a television interview.
Mr Giuliani was arguing that Mr Trump should not testify to the Russia probe, as he might be "trapped into perjury".
"Truth is truth", NBC host Chuck Todd countered. Mr Giuliani denied this was the case, and said two rival versions of events were in contention.
His reply seemed to echo controversial claims from Trump aides about facts.
In January last year Kellyanne Conway told Todd's programme, Meet the Press, that the White House was entitled to present "alternative facts" - to which Todd retorted: "Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."
From 'alternative facts' to rewriting history
Alternative facts and qualified truths
Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'
The exchange on Meet the Press on Sunday began with Mr Todd asking Mr Giuliani whether the Trump team was stalling about a possible testimony at the inquiry led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 US election.
Mr Giuliani said: "I'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so can he can be trapped into perjury."
He added: "When you tell me that he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. Not the truth."
Todd responded: "Truth is truth." Mr Giuliani said: "Truth isn't truth."
The interviewer put his hand on his forehead and said: "This is going to become a bad meme!"
Who's who in Trump-Russia drama?
All you need to know about Trump Russia story
Mr Giuliani then made his main point - that accusations of obstruction of justice against the president hinge on a conversation he had with then FBI director James Comey in February 2017, and that Mr Trump's account of that conversation differs radically from Mr Comey's.
"If you're just a genius, tell me what the truth is!" Mr Giuliani tells Todd. "We have a credibility gap between the two of them. You've got to select between the two of them."
Disbelief
Trumps critics were prompt to seize on the exchange. Preet Bharara, a Democrat who was fired as federal prosecutor by the Trump administration, suggested "truth isn't truth" would not sound convincing in a trial.
Others shared Todd's sense of disbelief.
This is not the first time that Mr Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, has spoken of irreconcilable accounts of the same event.
He told the Washington Post in May that Mr Mueller and his team "may have a different version of the truth than we do."
In the interview, Mr Giuliani characterised the Russia inquiry as "wild, crazy, unorthodox".
The president denies any collusion, and has repeatedly called the Mueller probe "a witch hunt".
Russia also denies claims it interfered in the polls two years ago, which saw Donald Trump defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
19 August 2018
President Donald Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has raised eyebrows by claiming that "truth isn't truth" during a television interview.
Mr Giuliani was arguing that Mr Trump should not testify to the Russia probe, as he might be "trapped into perjury".
"Truth is truth", NBC host Chuck Todd countered. Mr Giuliani denied this was the case, and said two rival versions of events were in contention.
His reply seemed to echo controversial claims from Trump aides about facts.
In January last year Kellyanne Conway told Todd's programme, Meet the Press, that the White House was entitled to present "alternative facts" - to which Todd retorted: "Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."
From 'alternative facts' to rewriting history
Alternative facts and qualified truths
Donald Trump: 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening'
The exchange on Meet the Press on Sunday began with Mr Todd asking Mr Giuliani whether the Trump team was stalling about a possible testimony at the inquiry led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 US election.
Mr Giuliani said: "I'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so can he can be trapped into perjury."
He added: "When you tell me that he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. Not the truth."
Todd responded: "Truth is truth." Mr Giuliani said: "Truth isn't truth."
The interviewer put his hand on his forehead and said: "This is going to become a bad meme!"
Who's who in Trump-Russia drama?
All you need to know about Trump Russia story
Mr Giuliani then made his main point - that accusations of obstruction of justice against the president hinge on a conversation he had with then FBI director James Comey in February 2017, and that Mr Trump's account of that conversation differs radically from Mr Comey's.
"If you're just a genius, tell me what the truth is!" Mr Giuliani tells Todd. "We have a credibility gap between the two of them. You've got to select between the two of them."
Disbelief
Trumps critics were prompt to seize on the exchange. Preet Bharara, a Democrat who was fired as federal prosecutor by the Trump administration, suggested "truth isn't truth" would not sound convincing in a trial.
Others shared Todd's sense of disbelief.
This is not the first time that Mr Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, has spoken of irreconcilable accounts of the same event.
He told the Washington Post in May that Mr Mueller and his team "may have a different version of the truth than we do."
In the interview, Mr Giuliani characterised the Russia inquiry as "wild, crazy, unorthodox".
The president denies any collusion, and has repeatedly called the Mueller probe "a witch hunt".
Russia also denies claims it interfered in the polls two years ago, which saw Donald Trump defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
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