Giuliani: 'Truth Isn't Truth'

There's a reason President Trump hasn't sat down yet for an interview with Robert Mueller, says Rudy Giuliani—and it's all about "truth." The president's personal lawyer in the Russia probe dueled with anchor Chuck Todd over a clear definition of the word Sunday on Meet the Press, the Hill reports. "I'm not going to be rushed into having him testify so he gets trapped into perjury," says Giuliani. "And when you tell me that he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, well that’s so silly because that’s somebody’s version of the truth, not the truth." Says Todd: "Truth is truth." Giuliani: "No it isn't. Truth isn't truth." Todd: "Mr Mayor ... this is going to become a bad meme." For more around the dial:

• Executive privilege: "You never waive that. Absolutely not," says former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on ABC's This Week of Trump's not invoking executive or attorney-client privilege in the Russia probe, per Fox News. "And it put [White House counsel] Don McGhan in an impossible position. Once you waive that privilege and you turn over all those documents, Don McGahn has no choice then but to go in and answer everything, answer every question they can ask him."

• Political? "I don't believe I'm being political at all," says ex-CIA chief John Brennan on Meet the Press, per the Hill. Brennan, who has criticized Trump, had his security clearance revoked this week in a stunning development. "I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, and many members of the Congress over the years who have security clearances have spoken out rather forcefully against whoever was in the Oval Office if they weren’t from the same political party." Brennan says he may even sue over losing the clearance, reports Politico.
• More Brennan: "John and his rhetoric have become an issue in and of itself," says Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on CNN's State of the Union, per the Hill. "John is subtle like a freight train and he's gonna say what's on his mind." Clapper was responding to a question about Brennan's New York Times op-ed that argued Trump had colluded with Russia.
• "Punishable by death": "I'm not sure there's evidence that anybody has misused [their security clearance], but I do believe that former CIA director John Brennan abused his privilege," says GOP Sen. Ron Johnson on Fox News Sunday, per Fox News. "When you are an ex-CIA director and you are going on all the cable news shows and acting as partisan as he has and accusing the president of the United States of treasonous behavior, high crimes, and misdemeanors. Last time I checked, treason was punishable by death."
• Breakup time? "It's dangerously close to being permanently broken, it is badly injured right now," says ex-CIA Director Michael Hayden on CNN of Trump's relationship with the national security community, per Political Wire.
• Back to guns: "You know I would, Jake," says Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, on State of the Union when asked by host Jake Tapper if he supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons, per CNN. The remark was Bullock's strongest gun-control stand yet as he mulls a possible 2020 run for the Oval Office, reports Politico.

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