Giuliani Defends 'Stormtroopers' Comments About FBI
(CNN) -- Rudy Giuliani on Friday stood by his belief that the FBI agents who raided President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen home, office and hotel room last monthwere "stormtroopers."
In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," Giuliani was pressed about his use of the word, which originated during World War I to describe German assault troops but has also been applied to enforcers of the early Nazi Party during the rise of Adolf Hitler. In modern times, it's become known for describing enemy infantrymen in the "Star Wars" universe.
"They are," said Giuliani, a former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, which executed search warrants authorizing the raids. Giuliani is now one of Trump's lawyers in the Russia investigation.
"You don't go into a man's house in the morning for a case that's 10 years old," Giuliani said. "I know to say it, they are, and stick with it and accept it and own it. You are stormtroopers. The men and women were off base in what they did."
Cohen, however, told CNN's Don Lemon shortly after the raids last month that the FBI agents "were extremely professional, courteous and respectful."
Giuliani went on to say that he believes there are some "bad people" in federal law enforcement.
"Yes, we get bad people, and it's my job to flush them out," Giuliani said.
Earlier this month, former FBI Director James Comey defended the bureau after Giuliani originally made the "stormtroopers" remark in a Fox News interview.
"I know the New York FBI. There are no 'stormtroopers' there; just a group of people devoted to the rule of law and the truth. Our country would be better off if our leaders tried to be like them, rather than comparing them to Nazis," Comey wrote in a tweet.
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