Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, said that he will not testify before House investigators as part of Democrats' ongoing impeachment efforts against the president unless Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is removed as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and the House votes in full on taking up the impeachment probe.
In an interview with the Washington Post published Tuesday, Giuliani said that he wouldn't appear before the House Intelligence Committee and "can't imagine" Trump administration officials would do so either.
"The position I'm stating is now the position of the administration," Giuliani told the newspaper. "I wouldn't testify in front of that committee until there is a vote of Congress and [Schiff] is removed."
The former New York City mayor referred a soon-to-be-released letter that the Trump administration has sent to Congress regarding the legitimacy of the impeachment inquiry. Reports about such a letter broke late last week. In the letter, the White House reportedly made the argument that it doesn't have to cooperate with impeachment probe demands until the House formally votes to launch an inquiry.
The chairmen of the three House committees that have subpoenaed Giuliani have given him until Oct. 15 to respond to them, but he says he's ready to challenge them on the summons.
"Let them hold me in contempt. We'll go to court. We'll challenge the contempt," Giuliani said.
Also, Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) invited Giuliani to speak before the upper chamber panel and inform lawmakers "of his concerns." Graham said that he was "tired of only hearing one side of the story" and that it's "now time to give voice to everything Ukraine. Let the chips fall where they may!"
Giuliani told the Washington Post that he was "very interested" in speaking to the Senate committee, but that "there are a lot of legal issues to consider" first.
"Graham wants me to lay out in one place, in one time the Ukrainian collusion and the Biden corruption," Giuliani said, adding that the idea for him to testify was not his. "I appreciate Lindsey offering the opportunity to lay the whole case out."
It remains unclear how much of Giuliani's potential Senate testimony would be public, if any. A committee spokesperson told the Washington Post said it hasn't been decided whether or not the testimony would be open or closed, or who would question the president's attorney.
Post a Comment