President Joe Biden says he had no advanced notice of an FBI raid of former President Donald Trump‘s former attorney Rudy Giuliani’s apartment and office.
During an interview on NBC’s “Today,” that aired on Thursday, Biden was asked if he was aware of the raid before it happened. He said, “I give you my word. I was not.”
“I made a pledge I would not interfere in any way, order, or try to stop any investigation the Justice Department had underway. I learned about that last night when the rest of the world learned about it — my word. I had no idea this was underway,” he added.
Biden also said he had not been briefed on other investigations related to Trump associates or Giuliani, and he was not asking to be briefed either.
“That’s the Justice Department’s independent judgment. This last administration politicized the Justice Department so badly, so many of them quit,” he said.
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On Wednesday, FBI agents executed a search warrant of Giuliani’s office and apartment and reportedly seized his computers and cellphones. Prosecutors have been probing Giuliani over allegations of money laundering, making false statements, obstruction of justice, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations.
In an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, Trump blasted the investigation of Giuliani as he said, “It’s very, very unfair. Rudy is a patriot who loves this country and I don’t know what they’re looking for, what they’re doing. They said it had to do with filing of various papers. Rudy loves this country so much.”
During the campaign, Biden accused Trump of politicizing the Justice Department and vowed, “I will not interfere with the Justice Department’s judgment of whether or not they think they should pursue the prosecution of anyone that they think has violated the law.”