Senator Lindsey Graham is inviting President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his recent trip to Ukraine.
The chairman of the Committee made the comments during an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” which aired on Dec. 15.
Graham said he’d be interested in hearing separately from Giuliani, who earlier this month traveled to Kiev, Ukraine, and Brussels to meet with a string of former and current officials to gather information on corruption in Ukraine involving former U.S. administration officials.
All three have previously alleged misconduct by Obama administration officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
Giuliani last week claimed that “the Accounts Chamber in Ukraine found an alleged misuse of $5.3B in U.S. funds during the Obama administration while Biden was ‘Point Man’” and that the “Obama embassy urged Ukrainian police not to investigate”.
“Well, I don’t know what he found, but if he wants to come the Judiciary Committee—Rudy, if you want to come and tell us what you found, I'll be glad to talk to you. When it comes to impeachment, I want to base my decision on the record assembled in the House,” Graham said.
In a recent interview with CBS, Giuliani suggested that he’d been forced to purchase a separate suitcase while in Ukraine because he had so many documents for a counter-report he wants to compose.
Graham admitted that he did not know what Giuliani “was up to” when he visited Ukraine, but that he could look at the information he allegedly has.
“We can look at what Rudy’s got and Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and anything else you want to look at after impeachment. But if Rudy wants to come to the Judiciary Committee and testify about what he found, he’s welcome to do so,” he added.
Graham also voiced his support for a shorter trial—something the president himself said he would be willing to consider—saying he wants the process to end “as quickly as possible,” and adding, “I don’t want to legitimize it.”
The House Judiciary Committee voted to approve two articles of impeachment against the president in a party-line vote, 23-17, on Dec. 13 and the full House voted to impeach him on Dec. 18.
The articles charged him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The president will be put on trial in the Senate, where the impeachment effort is expected to fail.
This is the second time Graham has invited Giuliani to testify before the committee, having previously invited him in October to give evidence about “corruption and other improprieties involving Ukraine.”
