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Giuliani reverses claim that he was leaked Clinton email information from active FBI agents

“If I did say that, that was wrong.”

CREDIT: AP/Evan Vucci
CREDIT: AP/Evan Vucci

Former New York mayor and Donald Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani is now denying he was leaked information regarding the FBI’s new interest in Hillary Clinton’s emails by “active” agents, disputing when he claimed the opposite during a radio interview a week before.

The controversy began when Giuliani told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum on October 26 that he knew of some “pretty big surprises” forthcoming from the Trump campaign. The claim came just two days before FBI director James Comey sent a letter to Republican congressional committee members announcing that the bureau is taking a new look into Clinton’s emails.

The comments aroused suspicion that the former mayor was leaked information from within the FBI ahead of the announcement, a perspective fueled in part by an October 28 radio interview with Lars Larson in which Giuliani said he was in conversation with “a few active agents, who obviously don’t want to identify themselves” about the email issue.

“If I did say that, that was wrong.”

Giuliani has since shifted his story, telling the hosts of Fox and Friends on Friday morning that he had heard about a “revolution” going on within the bureau ahead of time, but only from “former” FBI agents.

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“I did nothing to get it out, I had no role in it,” he said. “Did I hear about it? You’re darn right I heard about it, and I can’t even repeat the language that I heard from the former FBI agents.”

The situation boiled over on CNN’s The Situation Room later that evening, when host Wolf Blitzer pressed Giuliani to clarify the discrepancy. After first claiming that the “big surprises” he mentioned were actually an advertising blitz and “a couple of other things that were being considered,” Giuliani moved on to dismiss his own account of talking with active agents.

“If I did say that, that was wrong,” he said. “I have not spoken to an on-duty FBI agent about anything I guess for the last 10 months. I’ve actually never talked about this investigation to any current member of the Justice Department or FBI agent.”

Giuliani’s waffling prompted Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and John Conyers (D-MI)—both ranking members of the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees—to send a letter to the Department of Justice citing Giuliani and calling on the Inspector General to investigate the source of the alleged leaks and “recommend appropriate action.”

Giuliani said he would cooperate with any investigation.