The Trump administration has ended up embroiled in another major foreign connections scandal as the 2020 elections only get closer. According to reporting, an intelligence community whistleblower has sounded an alarm via a complaint filed with the relevant inspector general about President Donald Trump apparently trying to pressure Ukrainian authorities into trying to dig up dirt on the Bidens. As in other high-profile scandals, presidential lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been out trying to defend the Trump team — and it’s not been going so well. This weekend on Fox News Sunday, he lashed out at host John Roberts over “unfair” scrutiny of his own personal outreach to Ukraine, insisting that there’s nothing to see here.
Roberts asked:
‘Is it appropriate for you as a representative of the president for you to be going to Ukraine and finding dirt on Joe Biden and his son to use in 2020?’
Giuliani did not answer the question, instead shooting back:
‘That’s the way you characterize it.’
In other words, to compare to the Russia scandal’s progression — we’re at the “no collusion!” stage rather than the “collusion is actually okay!” stage, although that second one is no doubt just around the corner.
Continuing, Roberts dialed into the fact that it’s not exactly a reach to suggest that Giuliani, as a representative of the president of the United States, has been pressuring Ukrainian authorities in person and via long distance communications to try and dig up dirt on the Bidens.
Roberts pointed out:
‘That’s the way it appears to line up. You went there for one thing, you found out something else, and that’s what you’ve been digging at since.’
Giuliani responded by going on a conspiracy theory-laden rant that touched on favorite right-wing boogeyman George Soros, completely unfounded allegations that a now former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine sought to have local authorities not prosecute a certain list of individuals no matter what, and more.
He railed, eventually seemingly pointing people to a statement from a former top prosecutor who’s been denounced as corrupt by interests across the West:
‘That’s the way the pro-Biden media lines it up. This began with someone coming to me saying — this information can clear your client about the corruption in Ukraine between Ukraine, the Democratic Party, the ambassador, and the FBI agent who investigated the case — inexticrably combined, because Biden had the guy fired, Shokin. By the way, his statement’s on record. The lazy press could go read it. They don’t have to listen to me.’
Watch:
President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani responds to reports he traveled to Ukraine to investigate Biden’s son. #FNS #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/aNmenekwCF
— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) September 22, 2019
To be clear — Biden did not personally have the widely believed to be corrupt former Ukrainian top prosecutor in question fired. Instead, he joined in the overall push of Western interests to have that authority kicked out, and that push proved successful.
There remains, no matter the dramatic posturing from Giuliani and plenty of the other Trump cronies who’ve been out in public, no evidence of any kind of actionable conflict of interest in the situation with Biden and Ukraine. It’s just not there — unlike the ample communications establishing links between the Trump camp and Russian election interference surrounding the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
Featured Image via screenshot
