Whenever Rudy Giuliani goes on television, you know there’s going to be fireworks. This weekend was no different. He went on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos where he attempted to defend President Donald Trump against the allegations at the center of the Ukraine corruption scandal that has driven Democrats to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, and the interview promptly went off the rails. Giuliani — among other things — insisted that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) should be removed and melodramatically took proud credit for uncovering a scandal that does not exist. He also — in classic Giuliani style — said something and then said he didn’t say it.
Schiff has been investigating the Ukraine corruption scandal, seeking to get to the bottom of the situation surrounding the president trying to get the Ukrainian government to dig up dirt on the Bidens. On a call at the center of that, Trump said the Ukrainians should get in touch with Giuliani.
Asked if he’d cooperate with the intel panel, Giuliani rambled:
‘That is a question that has a lot, a lot of implications to it. Believe it or not — I’m an attorney. Everything I did was to defend my client. I am proud of what I did, and I am proud of having uncovered what turned out to be a massive pay-for-play scheme not unlike the Clinton Foundation.’
He did not uncover any pay-for-play scheme. The allegation is that former Vice President and current leading Democratic presidential primary candidate Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainians to remove a corrupt top prosecutor because they were investigating a company Joe’s son Hunter was involved with. Thus, the story goes, Joe’s family and its associates financially benefited from his office. There is no evidence of Joe actually connecting his work as vice president to Hunter Biden.
That hasn’t stopped Giuliani.
As he rambled on, Stephanopoulos repeated the question:
‘So will you cooperate?’
Giuliani just keep going, continuing:
‘And then we’ve got to look at the $1.5 billion from China and the two other places that Hunter Biden went to sell his father’s office.’
Stephanopoulos asked again:
‘You keep on throwing out the charges. Will you cooperate with the House Intelligence Committee?’
Giuliani finally got around to replying, insisting:
‘I wouldn’t cooperate with Adam Schiff. I think Adam Schiff should be removed. If they remove Adam Schiff, if they put a neutral person in who hasn’t prejudged the case. If they put someone in — a Democrat who hasn’t expressed an opinion yet. If I had a judge in a case, and he had already announced, I’m going to impeach; if he’d already went ahead and did a whole false episode — would I move to recuse that judge?’
Surprise surprise — it didn’t even end there.
Stephanopoulos continued:
‘So that’s the answer — you’re not going to cooperate.’
Giuliani shot back:
‘I didn’t say that! I said I will consider it.’
Stephanopoulos noted:
‘You said you wouldn’t do it. You said you wouldn’t cooperate with Adam Schiff.’
Giuliani then changed his story and insisted he actually would cooperate, at least if Trump decided he should.
Watch:
NEW: Asked repeatedly if he would cooperate with House Intelligence Committee, Rudy Giuliani tells @ThisWeekABC, “I wouldn’t cooperate with Adam Schiff,” but then says he would “consider” it were chair Adam Schiff removed. https://t.co/S0bTTE1vKj pic.twitter.com/gszI6zeRUV
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) September 29, 2019
The president’s personal lawyer has good reason to be concerned considering the possibility he faces criminal charges for his role in the scandal.
Featured Image via screenshot
