President Trump on Tuesday denied directing personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani to dig for dirt on his political rivals in Ukraine.
“No, I didn’t direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior,” the president told former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly in an interview streamed on the internet.
Asked what Mr. Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, the president replied, “you have to ask that to Rudy.”
“Rudy has other clients, other than me,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years.”
Mr. Giuliani has said he looked into “2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption” on Mr. Trump’s behalf.
The lawyer’s role is a central focus of the House impeachment inquiry and Mr. Trump’s alleged effort to force Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to announce an investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden.
Several government witnesses have testified that Mr. Giuliani was freelancing U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine to pressure Mr. Zelensky to investigate Mr. Biden and alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
During the hearings last week, the Republican’s lawyer on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence pressed witnesses whether they knew that Mr. Giuliani had been working in Ukraine on the president’s orders.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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