Rudy Giuliani walks back explosive claim that Trump intervened in the Time Warner-AT&T merger

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Rudy Giuliani.

• Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lead defense attorney, on Saturday walked back his earlier admission to HuffPost that Trump intervened in the Time Warner-AT&T merger to try to kill the deal.
• Giuliani told CNN Saturday that Trump "didn't interfere" with the merger.
• His comments to HuffPost are the latest in a string of unexpected - and potentially damaging - admissions he has made about Trump in recent days.

Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's lead personal defense lawyer, sought to walk back a potentially explosive claim in which he suggested the president intervened in the Time Warner-AT&T merger being scrutinized by the US Department of Justice.

Giuliani told CNN Saturday that Trump "didn't interfere" with the merger.

However, in an interview with HuffPost published on Friday night, Giuliani asserted that Trump has been unreceptive to lobbying efforts and pointed to the Time Warner merger as an example. "He did drain the swamp ... The president denied the merger. They didn't get the result they wanted," Giuliani said according to HuffPost.

It was not immediately clear whether Giuliani was saying emphatically that Trump personally intervened to kill the $85 billion merger, but Trump has publicly expressed his disdain for it. On Friday, he seemed to respond to the HuffPost article, by railing against media outlets.

The telecom giant and the US government have been arguing their respective cases in court.

Giuliani's comments to HuffPost follow a number of unexpected admissions about Trump and his involvement in some of the scandals that have roiled his administration of late.