Rudy Giuliani in 2006
Rudy Giuliani defied a House subpoena that demanded he turn over to the Impeachment committees documents related to Ukraine by Tuesday.
As the personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, Giuliani has emerged as a key player in the presidential impeachment inquiry. The probe centers around a phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president, during which he asked for “a favor,” and went on to imply that he would like the Ukrainian government to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.
In a declassified, non-verbatim transcript, Trump told the leader of Ukrainian to expect a phone call with Giuliani.
“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,” Trump said in the phone conversation.
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He went on to say Giuliani “very much knows what’s happening” and immediately mentioned the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and Biden.
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After saying the ambassador was “bad news,” Trump asked the Ukrainian leader if he could “look into” Biden and Biden’s son.
Giuliani met with a Ukraine official in July to discuss Biden which he confirmed in a heated interview on CNN.
In a letter to the House, Giuliani’s lawyer, Jon Sale, wrote that his client would not produce documents for an “unconstitutional” investigation.
“Mr. Giuliani will not participate because this appears to be an unconstitutional, baseless, and illegitimate ‘impeachment inquiry,’ ” Sale wrote. “Moreover, documents sought in the subpoena are protected by attorney-client, attorney work-product, and executive privilege,” the letter said.
When the House committees leading the investigation issued the subpoena, they threatened legal action should he not comply.
“Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena, including at the direction or behest of the President or the White House, shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the President,” the committees said in a letter to Giuliani last month.
Wednesday morning a fourth business associate of Giuliani’s was arrested on campaign finance violations related to the Ukraine scandal.
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