President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani continued on his non-stop television tour Wednesday to stick up for his client-in-chief on the growing Ukraine scandal. After telling Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Thursday night that no, he didn’t have his own “shadow Ukraine agenda,” and in fact that it was the State Department that had asked him to meddle in foreign policy affairs, he got up early to stay on message.
With evidently very little sleep, Giuliani was back at Fox studios on the couch with Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade bragging that the infamous transcript of the July 25 conversation between Trump and Ukraine’s president had been read to him. (The text is purportedly being released by the White House sometime today.)
“When you read the conversation, there’s no mention of $250 million, there’s no mention of military aid, there’s no quid pro quo,” Giuliani stated as Doocy tried to clarify.
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“This is the transcript?” he asked while Giuliani continued on unabated.
Kilmeade then made an attempt, touching the mayor’s arm to get him to pause. “So can I just back up for a second? Mr. Mayor, can I ask you, did you read the transcript?”
Giuliani then stopped and smiled. “Uh, let’s say it was read to me.”
Kilmeade asked for further clarification. “It was read to you,” he said. “The whole thing?“
After a moment’s pause, Giuliani responded, “Uh, I hope so!”
And then he was off again, sticking up for his client and accusing the Obama administration of dereliction of duty.
“If the president hadn’t discussed the things he discussed with the president of the Ukraine, he’d be a president like Obama who closed his eyes to corruption,” he said, pivoting to accusing the 44th president of possibly having a role in alleged and unproven wrongdoing by Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
He then went on to say that only Trump could have raised the issue of corruption with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Now who else can raise it with the president of the Ukraine?” Giuliani asked. “The head of the FBI can’t call the head of the Ukraine and talk to him.”
“When I needed something done with the Italian government when I was investigating the mafia, Ronald Reagan made the calls to the president of Italy, not me,” he offered by way of precedent on such matters.
Then Kilmeade cut to the chase. “So the president did bring up Joe Biden on the calls?”
Giuliani then hesitated. “Er, maybe he didn’t bring it up,” he said with a belly laugh. “Could be possible the president of the Ukraine brought it up.”
