Rudy Giuliani‘s about-face on Donald Trump‘s former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen‘s integrity followed reports that Cohen said Trump knew in advance about the June, 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Donald Trump Jr. and other members of the Trump campaign expected to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton from a “Russian government attorney.” Trump continues to deny advance knowledge of the meeting.¹CNN, July 26, 2018
Transcript: Cuomo Prime Time – Aired July 26, 2018
retrieved 7/26/18²Donald Trump (Twitter), July 27, 2018
“…..I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!”
retrieved 7/26/18

Giuliani’s reversal also followed the surfacing of a September, 2016 recording between Trump and Cohen that Cohen secretly recorded where Trump and Cohen are heard discussing paying to obtain rights to potentially damaging information about Trump from David Pecker, who is a friend of Trump’s and publisher of the National Enquirer and other publications, including a story by former Playboy model Karen McDougal. McDougal wrote a story about her alleged 10-month affair with Trump that began soon after the birth of Trump’s child with his third wife Melania; Pecker bought the rights to the story before the 2016 election and suppressed its release. Trump has repeatedly denied having extramarital sexual relations with McDougal and other women.³Washington Post, July 20, 2018
In secret recording seized by FBI, Trump and Cohen discuss buying rights to model’s account of alleged affair
retrieved 7/26/18⁴Vox, July 25, 2018
The Trump-Cohen tape, explained
retrieved 7/26/18