President Joe Biden said Thursday during a preview of an interview with MSNBC’s Craig Melvin that he had no advance knowledge of federal investigators’ raid on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s apartment and office.
The full interview will air Friday morning on NBC’s “Today” show.
Melvin asked, “Federal investigators searched the home and office of Rudy Giuliani as part of an investigation into his time as President Trump’s attorney, his dealings with Ukraine. Were you aware of that before it happened?”
Biden replied, “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 that 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.”
Melvin asked, “Have you been briefed on any other investigations?”
Biden insisted, “No, and I’m not asking to be briefed. I’m not asking to briefed.”
“That’s the Justice Department’s independent judgment,” he added. “This last administration politicized the department so badly that many of them quit, so many left. It’s not the role of the president to say who should be prosecuted, when they should be prosecuted, who should be not prosecuted. The Justice Department is the people’s lawyer, not the president’s lawyer.”
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