Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has told Sky News he would like to testify to Congress over impeachment allegations facing the president.
An unnamed whistleblower, believed to be an intelligence official, claims Mr Trump pressured new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call in July to investigate political rival Joe Biden, days after ordering a freeze of some military help for Kiev.
The whistleblower report alleges the Republican president pressed Mr Zelenskiy to work with Mr Giuliani and attorney general William Barr to look into unsubstantiated corruption accusations against former vice president Mr Biden – a leading Democratic contender for the 2020 presidential race.
It is alleged Mr Trump tried to influence next year election and White House staff attempted to“lock down” details of their conversation.
Mr Trump is now facing an inquiry into possible impeachment – the process where a president could ultimately be removed from office.
Mr Giuliani is believed to have traveled to Madrid, Spain, in early August to meet one of Mr Zelenskiy’s advisers, and US officials characterized the meeting as a “direct follow-up” to Mr Trump’s call. )
The complaint cites published reports of meetings Mr Giuliani held with Ukraine’s chief prosecutor in New York in January and Warsaw, Poland, in February, after a phone call he had late last year with the prosecutor’s predecessor.
Asked by US correspondent Cordelia Lynch if he was willing to testify in front of Congress, he replied: “Well there’s a lot of problems with that. I mean would I like to testify and tell my story. Sure. I ‘ ve the telling it. All the time in fact you know my story.
“Nothing I can tell them that you can’t read online. From the very beginning I’ve been totally transparent about this. There are things that I can’t testify to because I’m a lawyer. “
Mr Giuliani also said he was” not concerned “about his future, adding:” What I did is perfectly lawful , perfectly legal. “
He also claimed he should be seen as a whistleblower and should be getting protection.
He told Sky News: “To uncover one of the biggest scandals I should be considered a whistleblower, I should be getting whistleblower protection. I actually found facts that are true. The other guy however, what he wrote is false. “
Mr Trump had asked Mr Zelenskiy in the phone call to probe whether Mr Biden tried to block a Ukrainian investigation into his son Hunter’s relationship with a company called Burisma, which was drilling for gas in Ukraine. Hunter Biden was sitting on its board.
Mr Giuliani was asked: “You don’t have any issue with a foreign power investigating a political rival of the president?”
He replied: “I do if you don’t do anything. But if he bribed the president of that country I have an issue if they don’t investigate. “
Lynch then asked:” So the ends justify the means? “, to which Mr Giuliani replied: “No. Opposite way around, it would be totally illegitimate not to investigate it.
” If a president, if a vice president of the United States goes somewhere and extorts the president of that country. Or bribes the president of that country to get his son out of trouble, I’d find it extraordinary if they didn’t investigate. “
Mr Trump has denied the allegations and has dismissed them as a “witch-hunt”.
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