Rudy Giuliani Says He Isn’t ‘100 Percent’ Certain Donald Trump Didn’t Threaten To Withhold Aid From Ukraine
Rudy Giuliani admitted on Monday that he isn’t certain Donald Trump didn’t threaten to withhold aid to Ukraine in the now-infamous July phone call with the country’s president. According to CNBC, the president’s personal lawyer called the news that Trump may have urged Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden in order to hinder his 2020 campaign for president a “false story” before confessing that he couldn’t be sure it didn’t happen.
“Did the president threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine?” Maria Bartiromo asked Giuliani on Fox Business.
“No, no that was a false story,” Giuliani replied.
Bartiromo pushed him again, asking if he was 100 percent certain.
“Well, I can’t tell you if it’s 100 percent,” Giuliani said.
The interview comes after a week of controversy since it was revealed that the president may have pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden and his son Hunter, who had been doing work in Ukraine. A whistleblower reportedly filed a report about a phone call that Trump had with Zelensky, citing concerns that inappropriate comments were made during the conversation. It was later revealed that those comments were likely related to Trump’s promise to release aid to the country if they began an investigation into Biden.
BARTIROMO: Did the president threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine?
GIULIANI: No, no. That was a false story.
BARTIROMO: 100 percent?
GIULIANI: Well I can't tell you if it's 100% percent. pic.twitter.com/ApBGsK6kZz— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 23, 2019
Biden is currently seen as the front-runner for the Democrats in the 2020 race, which means he would face off with Trump in the upcoming presidential election. While there is no evidence that Biden did anything inappropriate when it comes to Ukraine, Trump has reportedly called for Ukraine to investigate him. Furthering concerns about the inappropriateness of the situation, the whistleblower’s complaint hasn’t been released to Congress.
Trump has acknowledged that he did discuss Biden with Zelensky but has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing during the phone call.
“..Breaking News: The Ukrainian Government just said they weren’t pressured at all during the ‘nice’ call. Sleepy Joe Biden, on the other hand, forced a tough prosecutor out from investigating his son’s company by threat of not giving big dollars to Ukraine. That’s the real story!” Trump wrote, according to The Inquisitr. “Now the Fake News Media says I ‘pressured the Ukrainian President at least 8 times during my telephone call with him.’ This supposedly comes from a so-called ‘whistleblower’ who they say doesn’t even have a first hand account of what was said.”
Trump hinted that he would be willing to release the transcripts of the call but has backtracked, saying that there are privacy concerns about releasing a conversation between two world leaders.
