Rudy Giuliani Won’t Testify Before House Intel: ‘Let Them Hold Me in Contempt’

Rudy Giuliani takes questions from the media after speaking at the Conference on Iran in Washington on May 5, 2018. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney, won’t testify or provide documents to the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Adam Schiff, telling a news outlet: “Let them hold me in contempt.”

Giuliani told the Washington Post on Tuesday that he would only comply with the committee if Schiff (D-Calif.) is removed and the full House votes to authorize a formal inquiry into impeaching Trump.

The House Democrats and an unidentified whistleblower have accused Trump of using his office to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, regarding their dealings in the Eastern European country. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and after the inquiry was announced, the White House released a transcript of his phone call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Meanwhile, the former mayor of New York City is a central figure in that alleged campaign.

Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to the media before a closed-door meeting regarding the ongoing impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Oct. 8, 2019. Photo by Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Speaking with the Post, Giuliani said he “can’t imagine” that anyone inside the Trump administration would appear before a Democratic-led panel regarding an impeachment investigation.

The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight committees have told Giuliani that he has until Oct. 15 to respond to their subpoena.

However, he told the Post that he won’t do it, saying, “Let them hold me in contempt. We'll go to court. We’ll challenge the contempt.”

“The position I’m stating is now the position of the administration,” Giuliani added. “I wouldn’t testify in front of that committee until there is a vote of Congress and he [Schiff] is removed,” he also told the newspaper.

In this July 10, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump is joined by Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, second from right, as he arrives at Melsbroek Air Base, in Brussels, Belgium. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

The White House has not commented on his remarks.

In the same interview, he said he is “very interested” in testifying in front of the Sen. Lindsey Graham-led Senate Judiciary Committee. However, “there are a lot of legal issues to consider,” he noted.

Giuliani said that Graham (R-S.C.) wants him to “lay out in one place, in one time the Ukrainian collusion and the Biden corruption.”

Democrats and the whistleblower have claimed there was  “quid pro quo” when Trump asked Zelensky to look into Biden, but the White House transcript of the call showed that Trump asked Zelensky to “look into” Biden and didn’t offer anything in return.

The whistleblower filed a complaint about that phone call and reportedly lacked firsthand knowledge.

Meanwhile, House GOP leaders lambasted Schiff and other Democratic leaders for taking a partisan stand during the impeachment process.

“Think about what the Democrats are trying to do—impeach the President of the United States 13 months prior to an election, based on an anonymous whistleblower with no firsthand knowledge who has a bias against the President,” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said on Tuesday.