Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) on Sunday pushed back against claims that Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE has ties to Russia and said any money the GOP presidential nominee got from Russia probably came from people opposed to President Vladimir Putin.

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"Donald Trump has no substantial connections to Russia that I know of," Giuliani said Sunday on CNN's "New Day."

"There are a lot of people, a lot of Russians, who are anti-Putin who have invested in the United States. ... And so the fact is, if you got Russian money, it doesn't mean you necessary align with Putin."

Giuliani said the Russian president is "very much against" money leaving Russia.

"If you're telling me money is coming out of Russia, I would tell you probably two out of three times, you're talking about money coming from anti-Putin people who are trying to protect their assets against Putin possibly taking it away from them," he said.

Trump has in the past praised Putin, and some have questioned whether his refusal to release his tax returns has anything to do with business ties to Russia.

But on Sunday, Giuliani pushed back against claims that Trump releasing his tax returns would reveal anything substantial about the issue.

"The reality is, your taxes wouldn't tell you whether or not you have investments from Russia," he said. "To do that, you'd have to do quite an examination of a business books and records."

The former mayor also said Clinton is the last person who should talk about Russia.

"She 'reset' the relationship with Russia, and since she did that, Putin has been pushing us all over the globe."