President Donald Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, admitted on Thursday that he had pressured the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump’s prospective 2020 Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. This came less than two hours after The Washington Post published an exclusive report revealing that the president made a “promise” to the president of Ukraine that triggered an “urgent” whistleblower complaint.
Democrats in Congress already had that phone call between Trump and newly elected Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky under investigation, as The Inquisitr reported. This is because they suspect that the call may be connected to Giuliani’s attempts to, as The Post reported, “manipulate the Ukrainian government into helping Trump’s reelection campaign.” In the new interview, Giuliani appeared to admit that the Democrats’ suspicions are correct.
Until Thursday, Trump had been holding back about $250 million in United States military aid to Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russian-backed separatist forces. The refusal to send the promised aid, as well as Trump’s ongoing snub of Zelensky — who has not yet received an invitation to the White House — is seen by experts as part of Trump’s attempt to “strong-arm” the new Ukrainian president into launching a probe of Biden. It is alleged that the president is doing this to discredit the former vice president and give his reelection prospects a boost, according to The Inquisitr .
But when Giuliani appeared with CNN interviewer Chris Cuomo on Thursday, he first denied that he asked the Ukraine government to investigate Biden. However, it took only about eight seconds for the former New York City mayor to reverse himself and say, “Of course I did,” in response to Cuomo’s repeated question about whether Giuliani pressed Ukraine to probe Biden.
In what Mediaite labeled “an epic, trainwreck interview,” Giuliani repeatedly accused “the media” of refusing to cover the alleged Biden scandal, and charged that Biden “bribed the president of the Ukraine in order to fire a prosecutor who was investigating his son.”
But when Cuomo asked Giuliani to produce the evidence for his claims against Biden, Giuliani appeared to become highly defensive, shouting, “I don’t have to give you the proof!”
“Go read it! It’s written in books! You just won’t read it! It’s all over the Internet! Go read it! I have the proof.”
Watch the entire, out-of-control Giuliani interview in the video below.
https://youtu.be/rXdrh6Nkl1U
Talking Points Memo founder and editor Josh Marshall described Giuliani as sounding “like someone in deep panic.” In the interview, Giuliani appears to admit that the exact scenario being investigated in Congress is, in fact, true. Specifically, this refers to how “Trump blackmailed the President of Ukraine, threatening to withhold military aid unless Ukraine went after Joe Biden,” according to Marshall.