That thumping sound that you just heard was Donald Trump
tossing his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, under the wheels of the
presidential limo. Yesterday, the president denied that Giuliani was working in
Ukraine on his behalf.
When asked by Bill
O’Reilly on his radio program what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine on his
behalf, President Trump answered, “Well, you have to ask that to Rudy, but Rudy,
I don't, I don't even know. I know he was going to go to Ukraine and I think he
canceled a trip. But, you know, Rudy has other clients other than me. I'm one
person.”
“So, you didn't direct him to go there on your behalf?”
O’Reilly probed.
“No, but you have to understand, Rudy is a great corruption
fighter,” Trump responded. “He's one of the greatest in the last 50 years.”
The president went on to suggest that Giuliani “felt
personally insulted by what happened during my campaign because there were a lot
of bad things happening.”
O’Reilly pushed further, saying, “Rudy Giuliani, he's your
personal lawyer. Giuliani's your personal lawyer. So, you didn't direct him to
go to Ukraine to do anything or put any heat on them?”
Trump continued to deny coordinating with Giuliani,
answering, “No, I didn't direct him, but he's a warrior, Rudy's a warrior. Rudy
went, he possibly saw something.”
President Trump’s denials are at odds with the facts. Back
in May, Giuliani told the New
York Times that he was traveling to Ukraine to investigate the “origin of
the special counsel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016
election” and “the involvement of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s
son in a gas company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.”
At the time, Giuliani said that Trump “basically knows what
I’m doing, sure, as his lawyer.”
The call
summary released
by the White House of President Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian
President Zelensky also undercuts Trump’s attempt to distance himself from Mr.
Giuliani. Zelensky tells Trump that “one of my assistants spoke with Mr.
Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be
able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine.”
Trump seems totally unsurprised that his lawyer has been in touch
with the Ukrainian president. Responding to Zelensky, he says, “Mr. Giuliani is
a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I
would like him to call you.”
Further, when the whistleblower scandal first broke, Giuliani
claimed that his efforts were aided by
the State Department. While the State Department denies that
Giuliani worked for them, texts and
emails released last week show that Giuliani was in contact with
Secretary of State Pompeo as well as Gordon
Sondland and Kurt Volker.
During last week’s impeachment
hearings, witnesses testified that the president’s team instructed
diplomats to “talk to Rudy.” Ambassador George Kent also testified that
Giuliani vetoed a proposed “anti-corruption statement” to be presented by
President Zelensky because it did not mention the Bidens or Burisma.
Mr. Giuliani is currently the subject of three
different federal investigations. In addition to both
counterintelligence and criminal investigations into his activities in Ukraine,
the US attorney in Manhattan and DOJ are investigating his business activities
and the FBI is investigating whether he may have been influenced by a foreign
government. Additionally, four of Giuliani’s associates have already been
charged with campaign finance violations.
The prospect of Trump throwing Giuliani to the wolves raises
interesting possibilities. If Giuliani senses that he is being hung out to dry,
he has already hinted that he has damaging information about Donald Trump. Just
last week, Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News, “I've
seen things written like he's going to throw me under the bus. When they say
that, I say he isn't, but I have insurance.”
Later, Giuliani tried to walk back his comment, tweeting that it
was “sarcastic” and claiming it related to the “Biden Family’s 4 decade [sic]
monetizing of his office.” Logically, it hardly makes sense that dirt on Biden
would prevent Trump from throwing Giuliani under the bus.
President Trump’s move to distance himself from Giuliani is
strange, considering that Republicans say that the impeachment hearings are
going nowhere. It may signal that federal investigators are closer to indicting
Giuliani than was previously known. If Giuliani believes that he is being
abandoned by Donald Trump, he may cooperate with House investigators and agree
to testify in the impeachment hearings to protect himself.
Whatever happened between President Trump and Ukraine, Rudy
Giuliani was in the middle of it. For the nation to learn the truth, Giuliani
needs to testify.
Originally published on The
Resurgent
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