Gary Marcus

Factual · Other · Political

“Per Giuliani’s disclosure tonight, every tweet and statement like this was a lie.”

Gary Marcus, writing on X · 17 January 2019 · Post by @GaryMarcus on X, 2019-01-17 (X)

According to Giuliani's disclosure on 2019-01-17, every tweet and statement like the one referenced was a lie, and Trump's campaign colluded.

Mostly false False in substance, right in a detail.

What would count as true or false

Judge this as of 17 January 2019, on what Giuliani actually said that night: his public remarks on 16–17 January 2019, including his CNN interview. The proposition is that his disclosure showed the 'no collusion' statements were lies and that the Trump campaign colluded. Later findings such as the Mueller report do not change what Giuliani said, but they can show context. TRUE: Giuliani acknowledged that the Trump campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia, directly contradicting the earlier 'no collusion' statements. MOSTLY TRUE: he clearly admitted that campaign members colluded or coordinated, though in hedged wording. MIXED: he admitted substantive campaign contacts or coordination short of collusion, such as sharing campaign data, so the statements were contradicted only in part. MOSTLY FALSE: he only narrowed his defense, saying he had never claimed that no one in the campaign colluded and only that Trump personally did not, without admitting any collusion. On that reading, the claim stretches a real retreat into an admission. FALSE: he made no statement bearing on campaign collusion, or he reaffirmed that there was none.

Evidence

1. Trump lawyer Giuliani says does not know if campaign colluded with Russia Reuters (via The Star) · 17 January 2019

   “"I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign. I have no idea," Giuliani told the cable news network.”

2. Trump lawyer Giuliani says does not know if campaign colluded with Russia Reuters (via The Star) · 17 January 2019

   “"I know the president wasn’t involved in collusion. How would I know about anybody else? I wouldn’t know," he said.”

3. Giuliani: Trump Campaign May Have Colluded With Russia, but Not Trump VOA News · 17 January 2019

   “On Thursday, Giuliani sought to clarify his remarks, saying, "I represent only President Trump not the Trump campaign. There was no collusion by President Trump in any way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign."”

Reasoning

Reuters reports that in his CNN interview Giuliani said "I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign. I have no idea" (E1). He then confirmed that he knew only that the president was not involved (E2). VOA reports that in his Thursday clarification Giuliani said Trump did not collude and that he had no knowledge of collusion by campaign staff (E4). This is a narrower defense, not an admission that the campaign colluded, so the claim treats a retreat as an admission.

Cite this claim

Gary Marcus, “According to Giuliani's disclosure on 2019-01-17, every tweet and statement like the one referenced was a lie, and Trump's campaign colluded.” (said 17 January 2019). Verdict: mostly false. Reliability API, claim c_0ef9ee7a3968, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_0ef9ee7a3968