Ex-New York Mayor joins Trump's legal team
New York, April 20: Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will join President Donald Trump's legal team, which is also acquiring two other new members, his attorney, Jay Sekulow said.
Sekulow, who along with attorney Ty Cobb is representing Trump in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, made the announcement after Giuliani confirmed the decision to The Washington Post.
Giuliani, who said he had made the decision last week at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida, joins the legal team that had been reduced to a bare minimum at a key time in the probe, given that Mueller wants to question the president in the very near future, Efe news reported.
According to Sekulow's statement, Trump emphasised the long friendship between him and the Republican ex-mayor, saying "Rudy is great. He has been my friend for a long time and wants to get this matter quickly resolved for the good of the country."
"It is an honour to be a part of such an important legal team, and I look forward to not only working with the President but with Jay, Ty and their colleagues," Giuliani said in a statement.
Sekulow also announced that Jane Serene Raskin and Marty Raskin, whom he described as very respected former federal prosecutors with decades of experience, will also be joining Trump's legal team.
Giuliani's law firm, Greenberg Traurig, said on Thursday that the former mayor will be taking a "leave of absence ... for an unspecified period of time to handle matters unrelated to the law firm or its clients.
Giuliani told the Post that on Thursday he spoke with Trump and Sekulow about the strategy the legal team will pursue, although he said it was too early to say whether the president would agree to be interviewed by Mueller.
The ex-mayor said that his advice regarding Mueller to Trump had been to let the special counsel do his job.
The additions to Trump's legal team come after the March resignation of John Dowd, who had been the president's main lawyer on issues relating to the Russia probe.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
