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Giuliani: Trump 'Relied On' His Claims About US Diplomat

Associated Press

   WASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer,
   says he provided the president with information that the U.S.
   ambassador to Ukraine was impeding investigations that could benefit
   Trump politically. Within weeks, she was recalled from her post.

   In an interview with The New York Times, Giuliani portrayed himself as
   directly involved in the effort to oust Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch,
   and he provided details indicating Trump's knowledge of that effort.

   Giuliani's interview, published Tuesday, comes as Trump is facing
   near-certain impeachment Wednesday by the House for abuse of power over
   his pressure on Ukraine to announce investigations of Democrats while
   he was withholding aid to the Eastern European nation.

   Giuliani said he passed along information to Trump "a couple of times"
   about how Yovanovitch had frustrated efforts that could help Trump,
   including efforts to have Ukraine investigate political rival Joe
   Biden.

   Trump, in turn, passed the information on to Secretary of State Mike
   Pompeo, Giuliani said. Within weeks, Yovanovitch was told Trump had
   lost trust in her and she was recalled as ambassador.

   Trump has said he did nothing wrong and his pressure on Ukraine was
   aimed at rooting out corruption there.

   Early last year, Giuliani said, he told Trump that Yovanovitch was
   impeding investigations in Ukraine that could benefit Trump.

   "There's a lot of reasons to move her," Giuliani told the Times. He
   said Trump and Pompeo "relied on" his information, likely leading to
   Yovanovitch's ouster last April.

   "I just gave them the facts," Giuliani said. "I mean, did I think she
   should be recalled? I thought she should have been fired. If I was
   attorney general, I would have kicked her out. I mean -- secretary of
   state."

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