últimas notícias

Giuliani’s outburst and the ensuing battle of words between the two men capped the end of a contentious day for President Trump’s personal attorney. Hours before appearing on Fox News, The Washington Post reported that Giuliani was a key player in the escalating political conflict over Trump’s dealings with Ukraine — a scandal that has rocked the White House and prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president.

Giuliani pursued shadow Ukraine agenda as key foreign policy officials were sidelined

On Fox News, Giuliani vigorously defended himself and Trump. He argued that he only contacted Ukrainian officials at the request of the State Department, called for investigations of “corrupt” Democrats, and repeatedly alleged that former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter had done wrong in Ukraine. The allegation about the Bidens, which Trump has also voiced, has not been backed up by any official evidence thus far, The Post’s Fact Checker reported.

Afterward, Giuliani took to Twitter into early Wednesday morning to double down on his earlier claims.

“Democrat party is covering up a pattern of corruption involving high level members of the Obama cabinet,” Giuliani tweeted around 1 a.m. “The multi-million and billion dollar pay-for-play is mind boggling.”

The former New York mayor first appeared on Fox News on Tuesday for a one-on-one interview with Ingraham to address The Post’s report about his involvement in Ukraine and the impeachment inquiry. The saga began unfolding last week when The Post reported that a whistleblower complaint alleged that Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Biden. Tuesday’s report revealed that Giuliani was heavily entangled in Trump’s Ukraine dealings, which also involved the president reportedly withholding almost $400 million in military aid for the country, while national security officials were sidelined.

When Ingraham asked whether he inserted himself into Ukrainian discussions, Giuliani confirmed that he did. Then, he repeated a past assertion that the State Department had enlisted his help.

“I never talked to a Ukrainian official until the State Department called me and asked me to do it and then I reported every conversation back to them. I’m a pretty good lawyer, just a country lawyer, but it’s all here, right here,” he said, holding up his cellphone to suggest that call records would provide confirmation.

For most of the roughly 13-minute interview, Giuliani sought to shift the focus from himself back to Democrats and Biden. At one point, he even suggested that Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who went to Ukraine this month, should be impeached instead of Trump.

Giuliani argued that Democrats have been “covering up for what will turn out to be massive corruption in the Obama administration,” highlighting allegations that then-Vice President Biden had pressed the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor who had been investigating a natural gas firm that employed Hunter Biden. According to The Post’s Fact Checker, that investigation was shelved before Biden’s attempts to oust the prosecutor. Additionally, Hunter Biden, who sat on the company’s board for five years, was never accused of wrongdoing during the investigation.

Giuliani later added that he had gotten involved rather than leaving the investigation to officials with the Justice Department or the FBI because of his role as Trump’s lawyer.

“I’m defending him,” Giuliani said. “He’s my client. I don’t know, only Donald Trump is not entitled to a defense in America.”