Giuliani: Kavanaugh Opinions Don't Indicate Future Rulings on Trump

Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's statements in 1999 about late President Nixon's White House tapes and later in a 2009 article about investigating presidents would likely have little to do with how he'd rule if he is approved for the high court, President Donald Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said Sunday.

"I know that these off-the-cuff opinions like this, when somebody sits down and starts looking at the law...he may very well go in the other direction," Giuliani told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace. "I wouldn’t count on Kavanaugh’s vote on this. This is a question of first impression."

He said he does not know Kavanaugh well, but does consider him a person of "very high integrity."

In 1999, Wallace noted, Kavanaugh said a case in which the Supreme Court required Richard Nixon to turn over the White House tapes was wrongly decided. Further, in his 2009 article, Kavanaugh said criminal investigations take a president's focus away from his or her responsibilities to the American people, and would cause that person to do a worse job in office.

"The Trump situation is very different than the Nixon situation, so I don’t think we get an edge one way or the other," said Giuliani. "I think the Supreme Court is about as straight as you’re going to get in our country, and this is going to be a case that they’re going to have to decide in the first instance."

No president, Giuliani continued, has ever submitted to a subpoena.

"Even [Bill] Clinton, who was subpoenaed, they had to withdraw it before he would testify," said Giuliani.

The former New York City Mayor and federal prosecutor added that he does believe the Constitution is clear that a president can't be subpoenaed. If that did happen to Trump, he continued, "he has a right to challenge it on the grounds that they haven't exhausted all other possibilities."

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