Giuliani’s statement, made during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” also appeared at odds with his own previous comments. While the White House has previously denied that Trump had asked Comey to drop the investigation, Giuliani had suggested that the two had discussed the inquiry, but in a way different from Comey’s account.

“There was no conversation about Michael Flynn,” Giuliani said Sunday. “The president didn’t find out that Comey believed there was until about — I think it was February when it supposedly took place. Memo came out in May.”

He continued: “And in between, Comey testified under oath that in no way had he been obstructed at any time. And then, all of a sudden, in May, he says he felt obstructed, he felt pressured by that comment, ‘You should go easy on Flynn.’ So we — we maintain the president didn’t say that.”

When the “State of the Union” host, Jake Tapper, noted that Giuliani had previously told ABC News that Trump had suggested that Comey give Flynn a break, Giuliani insisted he had never made that comment.

“That’s crazy. I have never said that,” Giuliani said. “I have always said the president denies it. Look, it’d be easier for me if the president did say that. Jay and I could defend that,” he said, referring to Jay Sekulow, another of the president’s lawyers.

Last month, when pressed on ABC News by George Stephanopoulos about whether Trump told Comey he hoped he could see his way to ending the Flynn case, Giuliani interrupted him to say that Trump did not say that.

“What he said to him was, ‘Can you give him a break?'” Giuliani said in that interview.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Maggie Haberman © 2018 The New York Times