“I am waiting for the Attorney General to step in, in his role as defender of justice, and put these people under investigation,” former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined the president's legal team, told The Hill in an interview. | Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo Giuliani calls on Sessions to intervene on Cohen investigation

Rudy Giuliani, who recently joined President Donald Trump's legal team, on Thursday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to intervene in the investigation of the president’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen.

“I am waiting for the Attorney General to step in, in his role as defender of justice, and put these people under investigation,” Giuliani told The Hill in an interview.


The aggressive comments came after NBC News reported that Cohen’s phones had been wiretapped and at least one call had been intercepted between Cohen and Trump. However, an official familiar with the situation told POLITICO there was no wiretap of Cohen, and NBC corrected its report to say there was no wiretap but instead a less-intrusive form of surveillance called a “pen register.” That gives authorities caller-ID information on calls placed and received and the duration of calls, but it does not reveal the content of the communications.

Before NBC corrected its report, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had no information on it and said she hadn't spoken to Trump about it.

Sessions and Trump have a rocky relationship after the attorney general recused himself from any inquiries into whether Russia intervened in the 2016 election.

Cohen, who is currently under criminal investigation for various business-related matters, had his residences and office raided by the FBI last month.

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Trump last year suggested that Trump Tower had been wiretapped by the Obama administration during the 2016 election. While evidence has yet to emerge that Trump Tower was monitored by investigators, CNN reported that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was wiretapped by the FBI.

Guiliani’s request for Sessions to intervene echoes Trump's repeated threats to get involved in Justice Department investigations, including special counsel Robert Mueller's sprawling Russia probe.

Trump last week said he may change his position to not be involved with that probe.

“Because of the fact that they have this witch hunt going on with people in the Justice Department that shouldn't be there, they have a witch hunt against the president of the United States going on, I‘ve taken the position, and I don't have to take this position, and maybe I'll change, that I will not be involved with the Justice Department,” Trump said.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.