Donald Trump denied directing Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to look for dirt on his political rivals, in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
“No, I didn’t direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior,” Trump told O’Reilly in an interview streamed on the internet on Tuesday.
Giuliani has said publicly that he conducted an investigation “concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption” on Trump’s behalf. Asked by O’Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said “you have to ask that to Rudy.” “Rudy has other clients, other than me,” Trump said. “He’s done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.”
Giuliani is under investigation by federal prosecutors related to his activities in Ukraine.
Trump’s effort to force Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to open investigations that could be damaging to his political rivals including former Vice President Joe Biden is the subject of the House impeachment inquiry. Witnesses in the inquiry have testified that Giuliani directed a shadow U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine aimed at securing the investigations Trump desired.Rudy has clients there. And it looks like he's in trouble with his former US Attorney's office as a result. But this doesn't fly. There are too many people who've already testified that Trump was directing this and Rudy has been basing his own defense on the fact that he was Trump's personal lawyer doing his business.
.LISTEN: President Trump is now distancing himself more than ever from lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claiming he did not direct Giuliani to act on his behalf in Ukraine in a new interview with Bill O'Reilly. pic.twitter.com/6JaP9oOLMI
— TheBeat w/Ari Melber (@TheBeatWithAri) November 26, 2019