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.
TRUTH ALERT:
The statement I’ve made several times of having an insurance policy, if thrown under bus, is sarcastic & relates to the files in my safe about the Biden Family’s 4 decade monetizing of his office.
If I disappear, it will appear immediately along with my RICO chart.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) November 23, 2019
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.
This article originally appeared on The Resurgent and is used by permission.
David Thornton is a professional pilot, freelance writer, and regular contributor at The Resurgent.
He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Emmanuel College. He currently lives in Georgia with his family. Find him on Facebook at DavidWThorntonwriter and Twitter @captainkudzu.
