by Chuck Ross
A defiant Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday he will not comply with congressional subpoenas issued in the Trump impeachment inquiry, which he called “illegitimate, unconstitutional, and baseless.”
Giuliani posted a letter on Twitter from his attorney, Jon Sale, to the House Intelligence Committee rejecting a subpoena.
Sale said in the letter that Giuliani, who is President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, is abiding by an Oct. 8 letter that White House counsel Pat Cipollone sent House Democrats saying that the executive branch will not cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, which focuses on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
Giuliani told The Daily Caller last week he would not comply with a subpoena because his Ukraine-related work is protected by attorney-client privilege.
Since late in 2018, Giuliani has worked with two associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, to gather information about possible Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election. They have also pushed the unfounded theory that former Vice President Joe Biden pressured Ukraine’s president to fire a prosecutor in 2016 investigating his son’s firm, Burisma Holdings.
Parnas and Fruman, who federal prosecutor in New York indicted on Oct. 10 on campaign finance charges, helped set up interviews for Giuliani with former Ukrainian prosecutors, Yuriy Lutsenko and Viktor Shokin.
I will not participate in an illegitimate, unconstitutional, and baseless “impeachment inquiry.”
Jon Sale, who is a lifelong friend, has represented me for the sole purpose of analyzing the request and responding. At this time, I do not need a lawyer. pic.twitter.com/l0IR0ikEHD
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) October 15, 2019
The indictment against Parnas and Fruman alleged that they pushed for the removal of Marie Yovanovitch as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on behalf of an unnamed Ukrainian government official. The Trump administration recalled Yovanovitch from her post on May 20. NBC News has reported that the Ukrainian official is Lutsenko, who left office on Aug. 29.
Giuliani is reportedly under criminal investigation over his Ukraine-related work. He told Reuters Monday that a company owned by Parnas paid him $500,000 for legal and technical advice.
Giuliani has denied wrongdoing and says he is not aware of being under investigation. He pushed back on the idea of hiring a criminal attorney Tuesday.
“At this time, I do not need a lawyer,” he wrote.
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Chuck Ross is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Rudy Giuliani” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
