On Saturday, former Mayor of New York City and President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani appeared on Fox News with anchor Ed Henry to discuss the ongoing impeachment process.
At one point during the nearly 15-minute interview, Henry asked Giuliani about his professional relationship with the president:
HENRY: Have you talked to President Trump in the last week or two? Have you met with him? Are you still his counsel?
GIULIANI: I do not discuss my conversations with my client. You can assume that I talk to him early and often.
Giuliani continued, saying that he and the president “have a very, very good relationship,” and that the comments he’s seen suggesting that he might be made into a fall guy are “ridiculous.”
I mean, I’ve seen things written like, he’s gonna throw me under the bus. When they say that, I say, “He isn’t, but I have insurance.” [It’s] ridiculous. We are very good friends. He knows what I did was in order to defend him, not to dig up dirt on Biden.
The president’s attorney added that he started his investigation “a year ago” when Biden hadn’t yet “decided to run for president,” and that the “evidence” he has has allegedly gathered will ultimately reveal a “conspiracy” in which some elected Democrats participated.
Rudy Giuliani has used the “insurance” line before, according to The Hill.
Speaking with The Guardian earlier this month, the former mayor was asked about the possibility that President Trump might attempt to “throw him under a bus.” Giuliani reportedly replied with a similar “insurance” comment, adding that if such a thing were to happen, “all my hospital bills will be paid.”
Giuliani’s personal attorney made sure to note that his client was just “joking,” according to The Guardian.
During the impeachment hearings this week, EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland claimed to have received direct orders from Giuliani about a “quid pro quo” pertaining to Ukraine and Burisma:
Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky. Mr. Giuliani demanded that Ukraine make a public statement announcing investigations of the 2016 election/DNC server and Burisma. Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the President of the United States, and we knew that these investigations were important to the President.
Under questioning from Republican counsel Steve Castor, Sondland noted that President Trump never personally told him that a visit to the White House by Ukrainian president Zelensky was tied to the announcement of an investigation:
CASTOR: Did the president ever tell you personally about any preconditions for anything?
SONDLAND: No…
CASTOR: The president never told about any preconditions for a White House meeting?
SONDLAND: Personally, no.
CASTOR: You said you didn’t have your records or your documents from the State Department, but if you did, there wouldn’t be any documental record that ties President Trump personally to any of this, correct?
SONDLAND: Boy, I don’t want to speculate what would be on –
CASTOR: No, your documents or records.
SONDLAND: I don’t recall anything like that.
Castor then asked Sondland about his testimony regarding Giuliani allegedly requesting a White House visit “quid pro quo.”
CASTOR: You indicated that you believe that was – he was evincing President Trump’s interests, correct?
SONDLAND: My contact with Mr. Giuliani began, as I said, very late in the process, after August 1, when I was first introduced to him by a text from Ambassador Volker. So, we had already begun those discussions, I believe, with the Ukrainians prior to August 1, so everything was being funneled through others, including Mr. Volker.
CASTOR: You testified that Mr. Giuliani was expressing the desires of the president, correct?
SONDLAND: That’s our understanding, yes.
CASTOR: But how did you know that? Who told you?
SONDLAND: Well, when the president says, “Talk to my personal attorney,” and then Mr. Giuliani, as his personal attorney, makes certain requests or demands, we assume it’s coming from the president. I’m not testifying that I heard the president tell Mr. Giuliani to tell us, so if that’s your question.
Giuliani responded to Sondland’s testimony with the following: “I came into this at Volker’s request. Sondland is speculating based on VERY little contact. I never met him and had very few calls with him, mostly with Volker. Volker testified I answered their questions and described them as my opinions, NOT demands. I.E., no quid pro quo!”
