President Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani hasn’t been shy about his role in informing the President about concerns he had regarding former Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch. But in a new interview with the New York Times, Giuliani outright admits he told Trump that the 33-year veteran of foreign service was getting in the way of his push to peddle investigations politically advantageous to Trump.
Giuliani told the Times that Yovanovitch in particular had impeded efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and alleged Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 election. Trump, in turn, told Giuliani to speak with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the issue. According to Giuliani, Pompeo asked him for more information and within weeks, Yovanovitch was ousted as ambassador, under the pretense that Trump no longer trusted her.
“There’s a lot of reasons to move her,” Giuliani told the Times, suggesting the information he gave Pompeo and Trump likely played a role in Yovanovitch’s firing. “I think my information did. … I don’t know. You’d have to ask them. But they relied on it.”
Giuliani told the Times that he informed Pompeo and Trump that Yovanovitch was blocking visas for Ukrainian officials who were trying to come to the U.S. to share “evidence” with him that could bolster his conspiracy theories surrounding Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The pressure campaign to push Ukraine to probe the Biden is at the center of the House’s impeachment inquiry, with articles of impeachment set for a vote in the House on Wednesday.
Giuliani also told the Times that he told Trump about rumors that Yovanovitch spoke poorly of him. Giuliani’s remarks to the Times pull Trump deeper into the inner folds of efforts to recall Yovanovitch from Ukraine. In a New Yorker profile published Monday, Giuliani fully admitted he wanted the veteran ambassador “out of the way” because she was making it difficult for him to pursue his investigations.
He took it a step further during an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Monday evening, taking full ownership of her demise — “I forced her out because she’s corrupt” — and baselessly claiming he had records that prove she committed “perjury” during her House impeachment testimony, citing documents related to the denial of a visa to the Ukrainian prosecutor at the heart of the Biden probe scheme.
“There’s no question that she was acting corruptly in that position and had to be removed, she should’ve been fired if the State Department weren’t part of the ‘deep state,'” he said.
Rudy: "I came back with a document that will show unequivocally that [Yovanovitch] committed perjury." pic.twitter.com/R88TyZu7nT
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 17, 2019
He later added that he’s ready and willing to show anyone is evidence to whoever wants to listen.
Rudy: "I want to show [my findings to] anybody that wants to pay attention to it but so far law enforcement has been afraid to look at it." pic.twitter.com/XZIhfVXsCy
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) December 17, 2019
Giuliani followed up with those remarks on Tuesday morning by effectively accusing Yovanovitch not only of perjury but also “OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE” with the visa denials.
Yovanovitch needed to be removed for many reasons most critical she was denying visas to Ukrainians who wanted to come to US and explain Dem corruption in Ukraine. She was OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE and that’s not the only thing she was doing. She at minimum enabled Ukrainian collusion.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 17, 2019
