The scandal surrounding Donald Trump’s attempt to pressure new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into launching a bogus “investigation” into former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden continues. On Wednesday, the White House revealed a transcript from a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky, as The Inquisitr previously reported. The scandal has also centered on Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The 75-year-old former New York City mayor has reportedly met or spoken over the phone with top Ukrainian officials on multiple occasions.
In a CNN interview last week, Giuliani openly admitted that he had pressed Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden — as well as his son, Hunter Biden — as The Inquisitr reported. Although there is currently no evidence that links Joe or Hunter Biden to any wrongdoing in Ukraine, Giuliani has accused both men of stealing millions of dollars from the country.
With Trump now facing an impeachment inquiry over his attempts to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on his potential 2020 presidential election opponent, Giuliani is apparently attempting to extricate himself from the scandal. In an interview on Monday, Giuliani claimed that the U.S. State Department sent him on a “mission” to meet with a top aide to Zelensky, Andriy Yermak.
However, the State Department flatly denied that it authorized or requested Giuliani’s contacts with Ukrainian officials. The State Department said that the Trump lawyer was acting as a private citizen and “does not speak on behalf of the U.S. government,” according to The Washington Post .
However, Giuliani has continued to insist that he was acting as a State Department agent in his dealings with Ukraine. On Thursday, he attempted to back up his claim by taking to his Twitter account. Giuliani posted what he said was a text message from the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker setting up a meeting with Yermak.
Why does this text and date render the hearsay so-called whistleblower useless and not credible? If you get even one reason I might recommend you for Law School. Two and it’s LawReview. Answers later. Watch Laura at 10 pm. pic.twitter.com/fN1kOtclaM
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) September 26, 2019
Giuliani’s revelation of the text message shocked legal experts, including Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. In a seemingly stunned reply on Twitter, Murphy said that Giuliani exposed a “highly illegal” instance of coordination between the State Department and the Trump 2020 campaign.
This isn’t real, is it? Giuliani didn’t just voluntarily expose a highly illegal coordination between the Trump campaign and the State Department? https://t.co/iESL7UgxSx
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) September 26, 2019
California Senator and Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris told CNN that Giuliani “really ought to stop talking and get a lawyer,” as quoted on the Anderson Cooper 360 Twitter account.
Giuliani also plays a prominent role in a whistleblower complaint — declassified and posted online by the House Intelligence Committee . In the complaint, the anonymous whistleblower described Giuliani as “a central figure” in Trump’s efforts to “solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.” The aforementioned “interference” refers to Trump’s attempts to press Ukraine to fabricate dirt on Biden.
