On the eve of the first federal criminal trial of Paul Manafort, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Monday the president's former campaign chief "has no information incriminating of the president."

"I know that for a fact," Giuliani said during an appearance on CNN's "New Day" show. "They can squeeze him — he doesn't know anything."

Giuliani then added: "He was with him for four months" — a reference, short by one month, to Manafort's tenure with President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.

If Giuliani is correct that Manafort does not have any damning information about Trump, Manafort may have a lot smaller bargaining chip to obtain leniency from special counsel Robert Mueller than many people in Washington suspect. There is widespread speculation, including by the trial judge, that Mueller's prosecution of Manafort is designed to get him to "flip," and give Mueller evidence that can be used against Trump.

Giuliani's comments came days after reports that Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, is willing to tell Mueller that the president knew in advance of a June 2016 attended by Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and a Kremlin-connected lawyer in Trump Tower in New York.

The Russian lawyer was granted the meeting by offering the Trump campaign negative information about the Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton. Trump and his son have claimed the president did not know about the meeting in advance, and both have said that the lawyer ended up not providing any information about Clinton.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, for the first of two scheduled criminal trials for Manafort. Neither cases are related to any actions by the Trump campaign.