giuliani. why? because mr. giuliani was not conducting official u.s. foreign-policy. he was doing a domestic political errand for president trump. now these phone records as i say lawfully obtained revealed potential context between ambassador bolton and rudy giuliani on may 9, the day "the news york times" reported his trip to kyiv. rudy giuliani's role in ukraine policy is yet another topic that ambassador bolton could speak to you should call in here what he has to say about it. even without ambassador bolton's testimony multiple other administration officials confirmed mr. giuliani's central role. ambassador sondland said quote it was apparent to everyone that the key to changing the president's mind on ukraine was giuliani. david holmes, u.s. political counselor said giuliani, a private lawyer was taking a direct role in ukrainian diplomacy. it's bad enough that the president ordered u.s. diplomat to quote talk to rudy about ukraine. the scheme got worse. the evidence showed that ukrainian

giuliani's direction. this group included two additional characters who had been in the news of late. lev parnas and igor fruman. mr. parnas and mr. fruman were indicted on charges including supporting president trump. simply put, in doing her job well, ambassador yovanovitch drew mr. lutsenko's ire. and as mr. kent observed, you can promote anticorruption efforts without taking off corrupt people. as it turned out, this statement applied to mr. lutsenko and mr. giuliani who feared that the ambassador would stand in the way of his corrupt efforts to course ukraine into conducting investigations that would benefit the interest of his client, president trump. mr. giuliani's courting smear campaign against ambassador yovanovitch became public in the united states in late march, 2019. with the publication of a series of opinion pieces in the hill based on interviews with mr. lutsenko. on march 20th 2019, and want peace in "the hill," mr. lutsenko falsely accused ambassador yovanovitch of giving him o a do not

giuliani. why? because mr. giuliani was not conducting official u.s. foreign-policy. he was doing a domestic political errand for president trump. now these phone records as i say lawfully obtained revealed potential context between ambassador bolton and rudy giuliani on may 9, the day "the news york times" reported his trip to kyiv. rudy giuliani's role in ukraine policy is yet another topic that ambassador bolton could speak to you should call in here what he has to say about it. even without ambassador bolton's testimony multiple other administration officials confirmed mr. giuliani's central role. ambassador sondland said quote it was apparent to everyone that the key to changing the president's mind on ukraine was giuliani. david holmes, u.s. political counselor said giuliani, a private lawyer was taking a direct role in ukrainian diplomacy. it's bad enough that the president ordered u.s. diplomat to quote talk to rudy about ukraine. the scheme got worse. the evidence showed that ukrainian

giuliani. the conversation then moved on to other topics. >> this understanding by investor sondland is independently confirmed by president trump's own interaction with ukraine. during his two telephone calls with president zelensky in thett and july 25t july 25th, president trump did not refer to any anticorruption efforts against russia or even utter the word corruption. he only spoke about investigating his political opponents. he later confirmed this narrow singular focus to the press october 3rd when asked about the ukraine scheme he said well, i would think if they were honest about it they would start a major bidens.ation into the it's a very simple answer. >> [inaudible] >> well i would think that if they were honest about it they would start a major investigation into the bidens. it's a very simple answer. >> so we know from when this is the presidents personal agents of the president himself the only thing president trump cared about with ukraine was the investigation to benefit hims

giuliani? >> i think that they -- like i said, there was other people doing like this ops research or whatever, i don't know what you call it, but it was coming from different sides, yeah. >> given that interaction that you just described with congressman nunes and his aide, mr. harvey, does it strike you as unusual or inappropriate that devin nunes would be one of the lead investigators into this scandal on the house intelligence committee? he's obviously the top republican on that committee. >> i was in shock when i was watching the hearings and when i saw devin nunes sitting up there, and then there was a picture where derek harvey was in back over there sitting. i texted my attorney i can't believe this is happening. >> because? >> because they were involved in getting all this stuff on biden. i mean, derek harvey had several skype interviews i set up with different prosecutors like mazar haladitsky, the anti-corruption prosecutor in ukraine. kulik. so it's hard to see them lie like that wh

giuliani? >> i think that they -- like i said, there was other people doing like this op research or whatever, i don't know what you call it, but it was coming from different sides, yeah. >> given that interaction that you just described with congressman nunes and his aide, mr. harvey, does it strike you as unusual or inappropriate that devin nunes would be one of the lead investigators into this scandal on the house intelligence committee? he's obviously the top republican on that committee? >> i was in shock when i was watching the hearings and when i saw devin nunes sitting up there, and then there was a picture where harvey was in back sitting. i texted my attorney i can't believe this is happening. >> because? >> because they were involved in getting all this stuff on biden. i mean, derek harvey had several skype interviews i set up with different prosecutors like haladi haladitsky, the corruption prosecutor in ukraine, so it's hard to see them lie like that when you know it's like that sc

giuliani. on the one hand the numbers associated with the office of management and budget and the white house on the other. on august 8 around the time of the recommendations between mr. giuliani and mr. yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house and a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m. giuliani texted a white house number. at that's 10:09 a number identified only as -- one in the white house call records called in rapid succession to two minutes later mr. to one knee tempted to return the call trying in office of management and budget number and then the white house situation room and then the white house switchboard at 10:2860 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room office of management and budget, switchboard, 60 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white ho

>> rudy giuliani. i have two reactions. everything that comes out of his mouth seems to be wrong kroe corrosive or false. and he either knows that, which is incredibly pathetic, or he doesn't know that, which is incredibly pathetic. i was predisposed against the man. i thought after 9/11, he did an extraordinary job as mayor of this great city to step up and lead, but what i see now is heartbreaking. >> bobbito, a lot of people in new york say they have known giuliani for a long time to be not always on the level. >> well, this city suffered greatly under his leadership and music, cultural, for example, cabaret license laws were stiffened, so it was difficult to dance in new york while he was in office. >> it almost sounds like the cartoon villain that's against dancing. >> it's ridiculous. we would be dj'ing in bars and venues and the enforcement would show up and shut down a party. people were just enjoying music. and again, these laws for cabarets were structured in the 1920s and 1930s against the home renaissance. >> be

giuliani. on the one hand. and numbers associated with the office of management and budget and the white house on the other. on august 8, around the time of direct communications between mr. giuliani and mr. yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably, late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house in a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m., giuliani texted a white house number. at 10:09, a number identified only as dash 1 in the white house call records called mr. giuliani five times in rapid succession. two minutes later, mr. giuliani attempted to return the call, trying an office of management and budget number, then the white house situation room, then the white house switchboard. at 10:28, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room, office of management and budget, switchboard, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white

on august 11th ambassador volker sent giuliani a text message. this is volker to giuliani. hi, rudy. we have heard back from andrey again. they are writing the statement now and will send it to us. can you talk for five minutes before noon today. and giuliani said yes. just call. that is august 11th. on the next day, august 12th, yermak sent volker a version of the draft statement by text. notably as we saw earlier this, this statement there the ukrainians doesn't explicitly mention burisma biden or 2016. so you could see what is going on here now. there was this game of chicken. you go first. no we'll go first. you give us the date. we'll give you the statement and no, you gave us the statement and we'll give you the date and now realizing they have to give the statement first ukraine tried to give them a generic statement that doesn't really go into specifics about the investigations and why, you can imagine why. ukrainians don't want to have go out in public and say they're going to do these investigations. because they're not stupid. because they understood this would p

giuliani drew into his scheme. the first of these characters is viktor shokin, fired by the ukrainian government for gross corruption. in 2016 at urging of the european union, the international monetary fund, and the united states government, the parliament of ukraine voted to remove mr. shokin as prosecutor general because he was corrupt and refused to prosecutor corruption cases, at the urging of the united states, the european union, the international monetary fund, all urged ukraine government to dismiss mr. shokin. the second character is lutsenko who succeeded as prosecutor general, mr. lutsenko also seemed reluctant to prosecute corruption cases and several witnesses testified that he also had a reputation for dishonesty and corruption. ambassador yovanovitch and deputy assistant george kent both testified that the u.s. embassy in kyiv eventually stopped working with mr. lutsenko altogether. shokin, lutsenko, and giuliani, goals of all three characters were aligned. shokin had it out for vice-president biden

giuliani. whom, he presumed the spokes of the president on the issue. and by the way, as mr. purpura has explained, the person who was actually speaking to mr. giuliani, ambassador volker, testified clearly that there was no linkage between the meeting with president zelensky and ukrainian investigations. the house managers also make much of a may 23rd white house meeting, during which the president suggested to his ukraine working group, including ambassador volker and ambassador sondland that they should talk to rudy. the managers told you that president trump gave a directive and a demand that the group needed to work with giuliani if they wanted him to agree with ukraine policy they were proposing. but those words, directive and demand, are misleading. they misrepresent what the witnesses actually said. ambassador volker testified that he understood, based on the meeting, that giuliani was only one of several sources of information for the president. and the president simply wanted official

giuliani's agreement first. on june 27 ambassador sondland explained to ambassador taylor that president trump needed to hear from the ukrainian leader before he would consent to a white house meeting. here's how ambassador taylor explained it. >> june 27 ambassador sondland told me during a phone conversation the president's zelensky need to make clear to president trump but he and president zelensky were not standing in the way of investigations. >> diplomat david holmes testified he understood early on investigations to mean the burisma biden investigations that mr. giuliani and his associates had been speaking about publicly. mr. holmes noted that while president trump was withholding an oval meeting with ukraine's newly-elected leader he agreed to meet with ukraine's chief vladimir putin. mr. holmes had this to say. >> also on june 28 while president trump was still not moving forward on a meeting with president zelensky he met with russian president putin adachi 20 summit in osaka japan sending a further s

giuliani had demanded. from the embassy in kyiv, david holmes reached the same conclusion, a conclusion as simple as 2 plus 2 equals 4. >> mr. holmes, you have testified that by late august you had a clear impression that the security assistance hold was somehow connected to the investigations that president trump wanted. how did you conclude -- how did you reach that clear conclusion? >> sir, we've been hearing about the investigation since march, months before. and we've been -- president zelensky had received a letter from the president saying he'd be pleased to meet him following his inauguration in may. and we hadn't been able to get that meeting. the security hold came up with no explanation. i would be surprised if any of the ukrainians -- you said earlier discussed earlier sophisticated people, when they received no explanation for why that hold was in place, they would have drawn that conclusion. >> because the investigations were still being pursued. >> k correct. >> the hold was still remaining w

giuliani jrudolph giuliani ukraine by his own admission. doesn't the president's mention of giuliani by 98 in the july 25th call could that exclusively establish the real purpose of the call? >> mr. chief justice, members of the senate, mr. giuliani played a key role in president trump's months long scheme the pressure ukraine to announce political investigations to benefit president's re-election campaign. remarkably, the president's defense is wrapping themselves in rudy giuliani's role in ukraine. are texts, call records and other corroborating records establish mr. giuliani's key role in executing the president's pressure campaign beginning in early spring 2019 with the smear campaign against ambassador yovanovitch and then throughout the summer. everyone knew that rudy giuliani was thegate keeper to the president on had ukraine on. may 10th, mr. giuliani canceled a trip to ukraine on which he planned to dig up dirt on joe biden. he admitted, we're not medding in an election. we're meddling in an investigation. you can say someone could

>> rudy giuliani. >> this letter that you gave to the house, the first line is a letter from giuliani. i am private counsel to president donald trump. duties and privileges of a president and private citizen are not the same. so he is making a very clear point that he is' not representing the interests. united states at large for american national security, he's representing the interests of donald j. trump. >> that was always the point. >> that was always the point? >> that was always clear. he made it very clear he doesn't represent him. wherever he went, he said, i don't remember the government, i represent the president of the united states. >> anything rudy giuliani wanted the government of ukraine to do, that wasn't official u.s. policy, that was a personal benefit to the president of the united states. >> when i was doing it i thought it was all in the same but obviously now i can see the situation the way it is, it was strictly for him but, again, i thought he was our leader. he's the chief, he's the president. it was all about 2020 to make sure he had another four years and t

giuliani's overtures. so giuliani at the president's direction throughout may and june, he ratcheted up in public pressure on ukraine to announce the investigations. no luck. it was only then when mr. giuliani could not get the deal done that president trump turned to the second official action using the oval office meeting to pressure ukraine. before we turn to the scheme for soliciting foreign election interference, we need to understand how mr. giuliani, the president's private agent assumed a leadership role in this game that applied escalating pressure on ukraine to announce investigations helpful to the president's political interests. why is that so important? first, let's be clear. mr. giuliani is president trum president trump's personal lawyer. he represented president trump with his knowledge and consent. the evidence shows mr. giuliani and president trump were in constant contact and this time. mike. both u.s. and ukrainian officials knew mr. giuliani was the key to ukraine. let's review the pr

giuliani had demanded. from the embassy in kyiv, david holmes, reach the same conclusion, a conclusion as simple is two plus two equals four. mr. holmes you have testified by late august you had a clear impression that the security assistance hold was somehow connected to the investigation that president trump wanted. how did you conclude, how did you make that clear conclusion? >> sir we have been hearing about the investigation since march. months before. and we have been, president zelensky had gotten a letter from the president saying he would like to meet him following his inauguration. that would be in may. and we had not been able to get that meeting. and then the security hold came up. with no explanation. i would be surprised if any of the ukraine, we discussed earlier -- when they received no explanation for why that hold was in place, they would have drawn that conclusion. >> because the investigations were still being pursued? the hold was still remaining without explanation? so this was the onl

it's helpful to rudy giuliani because, you know, one of the things i think that giuliani has to fear is the president is going to say, oh, giuliani was a rogue actor doing this all on his own, and what i think mr. giuliani is saying there is, oh, no, i was doing this at the direction of the president, which is very good for rudy giuliani, very, very bad if you're donald trump because it's now undercutting that basis for a possible defense that you were going to make, and we heard mr. parnas tonight say something similar to rachel. he said that the biggest lie and the reason why he was coming forward was trump's claim that he didn't know. he said parnas said, quote, trump knew exactly what was going ton, and i think giulianis defense this morning in the paper is of a similar ilk. it's basically to say, oh, no, i'm not doing this as a rogue agent. i'm doing this at the direction of donald trump, and if you're trump tonight, i think you've got to worry that things are starting to circle in on you. there's person after person who's looking out for themselves and looking out to tell the t

giuliani's agreement first. on june 27 ambassador sondland explained to ambassador taylor that president trump needed to hear from the ukrainian leader before he would consent to a white house meeting. here's how ambassador taylor explained it. >> june 27 ambassador sondland told me during a phone conversation the president's zelensky need to make clear to president trump but he and president zelensky were not standing in the way of investigations. >> diplomat david holmes testified he understood early on investigations to mean the burisma biden investigations that mr. giuliani and his associates had been speaking about publicly. mr. holmes noted that while president trump was withholding an oval meeting with ukraine's newly-elected leader he agreed to meet with ukraine's chief vladimir putin. mr. holmes had this to say. >> also on june 28 while president trump was still not moving forward on a meeting with president zelensky he met with russian president putin adachi 20 summit in osaka japan sending a further s

giuliani had demanded. from the embassy in kyiv, david holmes, reach the same conclusion, a conclusion as simple is two plus two equals four. mr. holmes you have testified by late august you had a clear impression that the security assistance hold was somehow connected to the investigation that president trump wanted. how did you conclude, how did you make that clear conclusion? >> sir we have been hearing about the investigation since march. months before. and we have been, president zelensky had gotten a letter from the president saying he would like to meet him following his inauguration. that would be in may. and we had not been able to get that meeting. and then the security hold came up. with no explanation. i would be surprised if any of the ukraine, we discussed earlier -- when they received no explanation for why that hold was in place, they would have drawn that conclusion. >> because the investigations were still being pursued? the hold was still remaining without explanation? so this was the onl

giuliani both directly -- spoke directly on the phone. that same week president trump's former personal secretary was asked by mr. giuliani's assistant for a direct connection to secretary pompeo. based on these records it is also clear that secretary pompeo

giuliani at his private residence. they asked us to wait with his friends, me and igor waited with his friends in the lobby. people started gathering, the donors for the party, the hanukkah party, in the meantime rudy was with the president. then at some point they said the president's coming out. the president came out. and went through the red room behind to go make a speech to the public. at that time rudy joined us and he came up and he was very happy and excited and said i spoke to him, everything's great, very good. and at that point we were standing, they were having a drink and then secret service came up and said president trump was asking for you to wait at the red room after he's done with the speech he'd like to see you and they escorted all of us to the red room where we waited 10, 15 minutes while he made the speech and then the president came in and he was there with the first lady melania. and vice president pence. and first lady, vice president, and also jared was there. and some -- i think maybe one o

giuliani. mayor giuliani serve as one of the leaders of the president's defense team during the mueller investigation. he's mentioned 531 times, 20 in, 20 in the brief and about 511 give or take in the arguments, including the motion day. we had a robust team that worked on the president's defense during the mueller probe, consisted of mayor giuliani, stuart roth, mark, mayor giuliani of course and marty raskin as well as jane raskin. jamie raskin was one of the leading attorneys on the mueller investigation for the defense of the president. the issue of mayor giuliani has come up here in this chamber a lot. we thought it would be appropriate now to turn to that issue. the role of the president's lawyer, his private counsel, in this proceeding. i would like to use my time. >> -- yield my time. >> mr. chief justice, majority leader mcconnell, members of the senate. i expect you have heard american poet carl sandburg summary of the trial lawyers dilemma. if the facts are against you, argue the la

through rudy giuliani. no one can say that rudy and the president weren't singing from the same hymnbook. >> what we heard from lev was something different and what we haven't heard before. remember what republicans have been saying in defense of the president, that zelensky not only did he ultimately get the money but he didn't even know it was being withheld. he didn't know so there was no way this was a quid pro quo. we know as early as may, zelensky was concerned about this biden investigation and the investigation into burisma and the pressure he was getting from the white house. what we heard from lev parnas was confirmation of that. related to the vice president and relating to who would attend his inauguration. remember he was elected in april. and according to lev parnas, he relayed to zelensky's associates that nobody from the administration, vice president would not attend, because they were not being aggressive enough in terms of these investigations. once again, reiterating that zelensky knew e

giuliani was ever in contact with mr. barr specifically about the fact that he was trying to get ukraine to announce these investigations into joe biden? >> absolutely. >> mr. barr knew about that? >> mr. barr had known everything. it's impossible. >> did rudy giuliani tell you he'd spoken to the attorney general specifically about ukraine? >> not only rudy giuliani. victoria and joe, they were all best friends. i mean, barr was -- attorney general barr was basically on the team. >> when president trump and president zelensky spoke in july, we know from the white house notes of the call that president trump told mr. zelensky that he should contact william barr about these investigations he wanted him to do including into joe biden. >> correct. >> that struck a lot of people as strange. attorney general barr was purportedly upset and didn't know why he would have been mentioned in this context. but it sounds like it makes sense to you. >> absolutely. because we knew about the durham investigation and that was going to be p

it's helpful to rudy giuliani because, you know, one of the things i think that giuliani has to fear is the president is going to say, oh, giuliani was a rogue actor doing this all on his own, and what i think mr. giuliani is saying there is, oh, no, i was doing this at the direction of the president, which is very good for rudy giuliani, very, very bad if you're donald trump because it's now undercutting that basis for a possible defense that you were going to make, and we heard mr. parnas tonight say something similar to rachel. he said that the biggest lie and the reason why he was coming forward was trump's claim that he didn't know. he said parnas said, quote, trump knew exactly what was going on, and i think giuliani's defense this morning in the paper is of a similar ilk. it's basically to say, oh, no, i'm not doing this as a rogue agent. i'm doing this at the direction of donald trump, and if you're trump tonight, i think you've got to worry that things are starting to circle in on you. there's person after person who's looking out for themselves and looking out to tell the t

giuliani. >> of course. >> he blames it on giuliani for telling the president because nothing is ever the president's fault. it's always the fault of the people around him, according to his defenders. but john king, one of the things i suspect we're going to hear from the president's defenders when they get their turn at bat is not about the -- okay, we have jay sekulow talking just moments ago. let's play that clip. >> go ahead. >> are you going to be short on saturday? >> the senate sets the rules on how we go, we'll see how it goes. >> all 24 hours? >> i said this yesterday, here's the thing. we're going to use a sufficient amount of time to not only defend our case and point out the inconsistencies of their case, but we're going to do it in an appropriate manner. we're not going to try to run the clock out. we're going to do what we think, what our legal team thinks is appropriate to present our case. we'll make that determination after. >>. [ inaudible question ] >> the white house would u

giuliani was pushing. the conversation then moved on to other topics. >> in this understanding by ambassador sondland is independently confirmed by president trump's own interaction with ukraine. during his two telephone calls with president zelensky, first on april 21st and then on july 25th, president trump did not refer to any anti-corruption efforts or the war against russia. he never even uttered the word corruption. instead, he only poke about investigating -- spoke about investigating his political call opponents. he later confirmed this narrow and singular focus to the press on october 3rd when asked about the ukraine scheme. he said, well, i would think if they were honest about it, they would start a major investigation into the bidennings. it's a very simple answer. here's that conference. >> [inaudible] hope zelensky would do about the bidens after your phone call? >> well, i would think that if they were honest about it, they'd start a major investigation into the bidens. it's a very simple an

it hooks in rudolph giuliani in a big way. we're seeing some new crack business republican about how to put trump on trial. and later, new russian hacks targeting trump's rivals. if it sounds like a lot, it is a lot. right now, our top story begins behind closed doors. speaker pelosi continued her strategy to shape the calendar for the trial. announcing a vote tomorrow to hand off the impeachment articles, to name the prosecutors who will walk over to the senate and make the case to the senate and to america donald trump is constitutionally unfit to stay in office. meanwhile, leader mcconnell saying the trial prep, meaning getting it going, can start immediately and we'll tell what you that means. an invite for chief justice roberts to swear in people this week. we know from history, as the chief justice arrives, the senators are sworn in, even the often partisan brawling atmosphere of the capitol does tend to cool even if briefly because the weight of the trial sets in. there are signs he wants to get on with it. reports toni

we know that giuliani in may wanted to go meet with zelensky. we saw that letter from giuliani. i want to go meet with zelensky. and we know he was rebuffed or something happened because he didn't get that meeting. and he was angry, and he went on tv and he said, zelensky is surrounded by enemies of trump, right? so zelensky is prepared for this call, and he knows it's going to resonate with donald trump if he says, i'd like to meet with giuliani. and immediately thereafter -- immediately after that, he says, we are hoping very much that mr. giuliani will be able to travel to ukraine and we will meet once he comes to ukraine. immediately thereafter, the next sentence he says, i just wanted to assure you, once again, you have nobody but friends around us. >>> now, we could have read this transcript to you early -- early on. that wouldn't have meant much to you. but now that you know that rudy giuliani was out there on tv saying zelensky is surrounded by enemies of trump, you can see why zelensky says, you've got nobody but friends around us. and he goes on. i also wanted to tell

giuliani and mr. yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8th mr. giuliani called the white house in a highly distinctive wa turn. at 8:53 p.m. mr. giuliani texted a white house number. at 10:09 a number identified as dash one in the white house call records called mr. giuliani five times in rapid succession. two minutes later mr. giuliani attempted to return the call trying an office of management and budget number, then the white house situation room, then the white house switchboard. at 10:28, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room, office of management and budget, switchboa switchboard, 16 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back, giuliani and the dash one number connected for 4:06. we should be clear, we do not know what mr. giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other

my friend and mentor, mayor rudy giuliani. >> with friends like rudy giuliani, you can move up fast, but that also brings scrutiny. carrick's nomination was spiked within a week, and the former top cop found himself indicted by the feds. >> rudolph giuliani's former right-hand man is formally arraigned on corruption charges. he accepted $250,000 in renovations to his home from a contractor, and then tried to convince city regulators that the contractor was not connected to the mob and should be hired for city contracts. >> conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud, evading taxes on half a million dollars, lying to the irs, lying on a loan application. >> bernard kerik could be facing prison time after pleading guilty to eight felonies. the former new york city police commissioner admitted he lied to the white house and lied about hiding income from the irs and faking a charitable contribution. >> that's pretty striking history. why are we talking about it right now this is where giuliani's approach is echoing in the open trial of the president. because just like giuliani pushed lev parnas w

giuliani was pushing. the conversation then moved on to othertopics. >> those three days in july the 24th, the 25th and the 26th, reveal a lot about president trump's effort to solicit help from a foreign country in assisting his own re-election. on the 24th, special counsel mueller testifies that russia interfered in our 2016 election to assist the trump campaign. he knew about the interference, welcomed it and utilized it. that's the 24th. the 25th is the day of the call. president trump believing he had escaped accountability for russian interference in the first election, asked to undermine the special counsel's conclusion and help him smear a political opponent former vice president biden. and then the third day in a row in july, president trump sou th received his request and understood it and would take the necessary steps to announce the investigations that he wanted. three days in july. in many ways, those three days in july tell so much of the story. this course of conduct should astound all of u

about ukraine it was immediately clear that giuliani who is pursuing the discredit investigations in ukraine on the president's behalf was the key to unlocking an oval office meeting for presidents alinsky giuliani by then had said publicly that he was actively pursuing investigations president trump corruptly desired and planning a trip to crane. giuliani admitted quote we're not meddling in an election where meddling in an investigation on may 10th however giuliani canceled a trip to ukraine to dig up dirt on former vice president biden and the 2016 conspiracy theory just as presidents alinsky won elections for the presidency and parliament faced with a choice between working with giuliani to pursue an oval office meeting understanding it meant taking part in a corrupt effort to secure the political investigations or abandoning efforts to support our ukrainian ally the president's agents fell into line. they would pursue the white house meeting and explain to you crane that announcements of the investigations was the price of admission as embassadors sonnen made clear i know that m

rudy giuliani to president zelensky. i am private counsel to donald j. trump. to be precise, i represent him as a citizen, not president of the united states. this is quite common under american law. duties and privileges of a president and private citizen are not the same. so he is making a very clear point that he's not representing the interests of the united states at large for national american security. he's representing the interest of donald j. trump. >> that was always the point. >> that was? >> that was always clear. he always made it clear he doesn't represent -- wherever we went, he said, i don't represent the government, i represent the president of the united states. >> so anything rudy giuliani wanted the government of ukraine to do, that wasn't official u.s. policy, that was a personal benefit to the president of the united states? >> well, you know, when i was doing it, i thought it was all in the same. but obviously now i can see what the situation the way it is, i mean, it was strictly for him. but i t

giuliani stated he wants me to do it. i'm working on pulling it together and hope to have it done by the end of the week. that friday, december 13th, giuliani reportedly met with president trump at the white house. on december 17th, giuliani confirmed to cnn that president trump has been very supportive of his efforts to dig up dirt on vice president biden in ukraine and they are on the same page. the following day, on december 18, 2019, the house of representatives approved the two articles of impeachment you are considering in this trial. since the house voted on these articles, evidence has continued to come to light related to the president's corrupt scheme. among other things, freedom of information act lawsuits, press reporting and documents provided to congress from rudy giuliani associate lev parnas further corroborate what we already know about the president's scheme. as giuliani again said on december 17th, president trump has been, quote, very supportive, unquote, of his efforts to dig up dirt on vice president

giuliani in early spring of 2019. and it also appears that these efforts were backed by the white house, given the involvement of president trump's personal secretary. this body and the american people need to see these e-mails and other files at the state department, fleshing out these exchanges and the details is your rounding mr. giuliani's communications with secretary pompeo. moreover, based on call records lawfully obtained by the house from this period, we know that from march 24th to march 30th mr. giuliani called the white house several times and also connected with an unidentified number numerous times. these records show that on march 27th, mr. giuliani placed a series of calls, a series of calls to the state department switchboard. secretary pompeo's assistant and the white house switchboard in quick succession, all within less than 30 minutes. obtaining e-mails and other documents regarding the state department's leadership interaction with president trump's private lawyer in this period, when mr. giulian

giuliani's central role. the nature of president trump's solicitation of the pressure campaign on ukraine waged by mr. giuliani and senior officials at president trump's direction. again, this is just some of what we learned from ambassador volker's records. as you will see you during this trial presentation, there were numerous whatsapp messages in august, while ambassadors volker ambassador sondland were pressuring ukraine to announce the investigation that president trump wanted and ambassador taylor's texts that you saw it earlier about withholding the aid further revealed how much more material there likely is that relates to the articles of impeachment. there can be no doubt that a full production of relevant texts and whatsapp messages from other officials involved in ukraine and in touch with ukrainian officials, including ambassador sondland, ambassador taylor, and deputy assistant secretary kent would further illuminate the malfeasance addressed in our first article. this leads to the second categor

giuliani. on the one hand the numbers associated with the office of management and budget and the white house on the other. on august 8 around the time of the recommendations between mr. giuliani and mr. yermak, mr. giuliani communicated repeatedly with the white house sending or receiving six text messages and completing several calls. most notably late in the evening on august 8, mr. giuliani called the white house and a highly distinctive pattern. at 8:53 p.m. giuliani texted a white house number. at that's 10:09 a number identified only as -- one in the white house call records called in rapid succession to two minutes later mr. to one knee tempted to return the call trying in office of management and budget number and then the white house situation room and then the white house switchboard at 10:2860 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white house back frantically, situation room office of management and budget, switchboard, 60 minutes after mr. giuliani tried to call the white ho

rudy giuliani associate lev parnas. parnas is now speaking out and directly implicating the president in ukraine -- in using ukraine pressure, a campaign at the center of this impeachment charge. let's go to our congressional correspondent, phil mattingly, another momentous day in the impeachment of the president. first of all, take us through what we saw. >> reporter: no question about that. it started today with the seven house democratic impeachment managers walking those two articles of impeachment over to the united states senate floor and when they arrived, it set off a series of events, a series of somber events that have only been seen three times as it relates to the president in the country's history. take a watch. >> all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment while the house of representatives is exhibiting to the senate of the united states, articles of impeachment against donald john trump, president of the united states. >> the managers on the part of the house will now proceed. >> do

i want to talk about the giuliani letter and giuliani's role in this. my understanding is the new person who's been introduced into this, robert hyde, you got a chance to speak to him earlier this evening, is that correct? >> that's right. i've been texting with him throughout the evening after getting in touch once the parnas documents posted and i think the big takeaway, at least based on our limited communication, is that this is a guy who's totally unapologetic about the materials that have now come out. in one of the texts that he sent me, he made a joke about adam schiff in the context of a sex act. in another he used an obscenity to refer to schiff who, of course, is the chairman of the house committee responsible for this impeachment investigation and which secured these documents from lev parnas and his legal team. then in another message he said that he believes he's currently winning in the polls. of course, he's running a long-shot campaign against congresswoman jahana hayes in connecticut's 5th district. he told me he thinks he's going to w

don't forget we still have rudy giuliani -- sorry, not rudy giuliani. we have john bolton who said he would answer a senate subpoena, who also has been involved in these conversations with the president, lev parnas has been willing to come programs. i think one of the challenges the senators face is the evidence keeps mounting. there's no legal requirement that once the articles of impeachment are voted on, the house stops collecting evidence. you can continue to collect evidence, as long as the trial is ongoing. >> what do you think of that? >> i think that's very important. she's absolutely right. this evidence that's emerging now is painting an exceedingly clear picture. the president has been caught red-handed abusing hi power on his personal interests, political interests, to undermine the elections. the republican senate is facing a very clear decision. each senator is going to decide what's more important to them -- go examine the evidence, hear from the witnesses, get the documents or do whatever the president wants because they think it's in th

>> rudy giuliani. >> a lot there. we're going to unpack it. just so you can understand how central lev parnas is to all of this. here's who he is. born in ukraine. he's an american citizen who was living in florida. last year, he and his business associates were indicted on several counts of campaign finance violation. >> in 2018, parnas introduced rudy giuliani to former and current ukrainian officials. giuliani told cnn those officials provided damaging information on some of trump's political enemies. note this. parnas' company, which is named interestingly, fraud guarantee, paid giuliani half a million dollars in the fall of 2018 for consulting. so giuliani was working with parnas. >> yeah, and working for the president. and as you heard in that interview, president trump says he doesn't know parnas. but on at least seven occasions, he posed for photos. not just one photo. on at least seven occasion he's posed for photos with parnas and his business partner. cnn has learned that both those men had a private meeting with the president and w

giuliani. acting on behalf of the president in connection with with ukraine. as we will describe ambassador bolton communicated directly with giuliani at key moments. he knows the details of the so called drug deal he would later warn against. most importantly, ambassador bolton has said both that he will testify and he has relevant information that is not yet been disclosed. a key witness has come forward and confirmed not only he participated in critically important events. but that he has new evidence we have not yet heard. precisely what bolton has done. his lawyer tells us that ambassador bolton was quote personally involved in many of the events meetings and conversations about which the house heard testimony. as well as many relevant meetings in conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimony thus far. close quote. ambassador bolton requested as a witness in the house inquiry. he refused to appear voluntarily. his lawyers informed the house intelligence committee ambassad

>> rudy giuliani. >> but wait. there's more. >> much more. >> president trump is not the only person that lev parnas directly implicates. we'll bring you what he says about vice president pence and acting chief of staff mick mulvaney and former national security adviser john bolton. next. i'm bad. you're stronger than you know. so strong. you power through chronic migraine, 15 or more headache or migraine days a month. one tough mother. you're bad enough for botox®. botox® has been preventing headaches and migraines before they even start for almost 10 years, and is the #1 prescribed branded chronic migraine treatment. botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions, neck

giuliani at key moments. he knows the details of the so-called drug deal he would later warn against. perhaps most importantly, ambassador bolton has said both that he will testify and that he has relevant information that has not yet been disclosed. a key witness has come forward and confirmed not only that he participated in critically important events but that he has new evidence we have not yet heard. that is precisely what ambassador bolton has done. his lawyer tells us that ambassador bolton was, quote, personally involved in many of the events, meetings, and conversations about which the house heard testimony as well as many relevant meetings and conversations that have not yet been discussed in the testimonies thus far, closed quote. ambassador bolton was requested as a witness in the house inquiry, but he refused to appear voluntarily. his lawyers informed the house intelligence committee that ambassador bolton would take the matter to court if she issued subpoenas as a subordinate did. but the ambas

giuliani stated he wants me to do it. i'm working on pulling it together and hope to have it done by the end of the week. that friday, december 13th, giuliani reportedly met with president trump at the white house. and on december 17th, giuliani confirmed to cnn that president trump has been very supportive of his efforts to dig up dirt on vice president biden in ukraine and that they are on the same page. the following day on december 18, 2019, the house of representatives approved the two articles of impeachment you are considering in this trial. since the house voted on these articles, the evidence has continued to come to light related to the president's corrupt scheme. among other things, freedom of information act lawsuits, press reporting and documents provided to congress from rudy giuliani associate lev parnas, further corroborate what we already know about the president's scheme. as giuliani again said on december 17th, president trump has been, quote, very supportive, unquote, of his efforts to dig up dirt on v

you've got this letter from rudy giuliani. and in it rudy giuliani says congratulations. you've won the presidency of ukraine and i want you to prosper and all this. and then he gets to the meat of the whole thing which is however, i have a more specific request in my capacity as personal counsel to president trump and with his knowledge and consent, i request a meeting this upcoming monday or tuesday. i need no more than a half hour of your time. i'll be accompanied by victoria tunsing. what's stunning is what the president says to bill o-riley a few months lawsuiter. let me play it again. >> you didn't direct him to go there on your relaugh? >> no. but you have to understand that rudy is a great corruption fighter. >> rudy giuliani -- but he's -- he's your personal lawyer. giuliani's your personal lawyer. so, you didn't direct him to go to ukraine to do anything. >> no, i didn't direct him. >> i mean, laura, rudy giuliani puts in a letter with the president of the united states knowledge and consent, i request a meeting with you four days from when he sends this letter.

giuliani was pushing. the conversation then moved on to other topics. >> those three days in july, the 24th, the 25th, and the 26th reveal a lot about president trump's effort to solicit help from a foreign country in assisting his own re-election. on the 24th, special counsel mueller testifies that russia interfered in our 2016 election to assist the trump campaign, knew about the interference, welcomed it, and utilized it, that's the 24th. the 25th is the day of the call when president trump believing he'd escaped accountability for russian meddling in the first election and is welcoming of it, asked the ukrainian president to help him undermine the special counsel's conclusion and help him smear a political opponent, former vice president biden. and then the third day in a row in july, president trump sought to ensure that ukraine had received his request and understood it and would take the necessary steps to announce the investigations that he wanted, three days in july. in many ways, those three days