President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani recently traveled to Ukraine, and the president says “I hear he’s found plenty.”
Ukraine is at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into Trump, who, Democrats say, asked the Ukrainian president for a “favor:” investigating a state natural gas company there connected to Joe and Hunter Biden.
Trump told reporters on Saturday that Giuliani’s trip was successful and that the former New York City mayor is “going to make a report, I think to the attorney general and to Congress. He says he has a lot of good information.”
“I have not spoken to him about that information yet,” Trump added. “He has not told me what he found, but I think he wants to go before Congress and also to the attorney general and the Department of Justice. I hear he has found plenty.”
The president was also asked about choosing not to participate in Monday’s impeachment hearing. He responded as he has in the past — that he discussed the option with several parties — but said that “nothing came out of the conversation.”
“The impeachment thing is a total hoax,” Trump said. “The numbers have totally swung our way. They don’t want to see impeachment. Especially in the swing states they’ve swung our way. I’ve never seen a swing like this. Because people realize it’s a total hoax. We had a perfect conversation. It was only a conversation. Nothing came out of the conversation, except for the relationship with Ukraine. And the people see that it’s just a continuation of this three-year witch. And I’m looking forward to seeing the IG report. I hear they’re announcing it on Monday. And I look forward very much to seeing what happens with the Durham report, maybe even more importantly. Because it’s a horrible thing that took place, and it should never happen to another president.”
Giuliani reportedly traveled to Hungary and Ukraine last week for meetings, according to The New York Times. The Times reports that he met with former Ukrainian prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko in Budapest on Tuesday, then met with several former Ukrainian prosecutors in Kiev later in the week.
“What Mr. Giuliani is doing at this point is still confidential and is for the sole purpose of proving his clients’ innocence. In doing so he will prove that this latest farce is even more baseless and malicious than the first attempted coup takedown. Once all individuals have returned safely to the United States, we will reveal the significant witnesses involved,” a spokeswoman for Giuliani told CNN in a statement.
“Andriy Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat and associate of Giuliani, wrote on Twitter Friday that Giuliani was ‘prepping for tomorrow another hard working day’ meeting former Ukrainian prosecutors Yuriy Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin,” CNN reported. “To all conspiracy theorist there is no secret on what we are doing,” Telizhenko wrote. “The TRUTH will come out. God Bless Ukraine and God Bless the United States of America.”
On Friday, Giuliani suggested that the United States and Ukraine launch “a large scale joint investigation” into corruption in their countries.“In reviewing my notes, it seems to me that a large scale joint investigation into Ukraine and the US would uncover and recover billions stolen by crooks, from both countries, at the highest levels,” Giuliani wrote on Twitter. “This would be the most effective way to bring our two countries together.”