Giuliani walks back suggestion FBI insiders leaked to him

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Friday clarified his earlier suggestion that FBI insiders tipped him off about the new evidence being reviewed in the Hillary Clinton email probe, saying that he actually had no advance knowledge.

“That's not correct,” Giuliani told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, when he was pressed on why he appeared to suggest that agents were leaking information to him. “I've had no conversations with anyone inside the FBI. I was referring to the consternation in the FBI which The New York Times has reported on and The Wall Street Journal has reported on."


During his appearance on "Fox and Friends" on Friday morning, the former New York City mayor seemed to say that he knew about the new evidence before FBI Director James Comey informed Congress last Friday. “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," he said.

The statement sparked immediate consternation from Democrats and was cited in a letter congressional Democrats sent to the Justice Department inspector general, asking him to investigate whether the agency is leaking information that could benefit Donald Trump.

But while the frequent Trump surrogate said he did not know about Comey's letter beforehand, Giuliani did say that agents inside the bureau are angry.

"I was referring to the fact that — this has been going on for about four months now, this tremendous anger among — and I got it all from former FBI agents," Giuliani said. "Tremendous anger within the FBI about the way, number one, Jim Comey's conclusion and, number two, the way they believed they were being obstructed by what they regard as a pretty corrupt Obama justice department."