Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, said it should be “impossible” for the Ukraine whistleblower to be considered the “hero” when he is the one acting in the government’s interests.
“It is impossible that the whistleblower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero,” Giuliani told The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott this morning.
Plott described Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City, as “very angry” about the situation.
“I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government,” Giuliani added. “Anything I did should be praised.”
Giuliani has been one of Trump’s biggest supporters throughout the Ukraine affair.
When the House Intelligence Committee released a redacted version of the whistleblower’s complaint this morning, the attorney dismissed the damning allegations as “crap.”
The document detailed concerns that Trump was “using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
The primary issue was the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the two leaders discussed investigating former Vice President Joe Biden.
The whistleblower complaint also directly implicated Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr, claiming both men were aware of the conversation and Trump’s push for Ukraine to probe the Biden family.
The document specifically described Giuliani as a “central figure” in the situation and that multiple White House officials were “deeply concerned” about his attempt to insert himself into U.S.-Ukraine relations.
Asked about these accusations, Giuliani told The Atlantic that he believes the whistleblower is “totally out of the loop or just a liar.”
Giuliani told Fox News on Tuesday night that he contacted Ukrainian officials only at the request of the State Department. He claimed that he reported “every conversation” he had with the foreign officials back to the federal agency.
In the interview, Giuliani also repeatedly alleged that Biden and his son Hunter had committed crimes in Ukraine.
He did not provide any evidence for his allegations.
Hunter Biden served for nearly five years on the board of Burisma, Ukraine’s largest private gas company, whose owner came under scrutiny by Ukrainian prosecutors for possible abuse of power and unlawful enrichment.
Hunter Biden was not accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation.
As vice president, Joe Biden pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who Biden and other Western officials said was not sufficiently pursuing corruption cases — at one point, threatening to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees.
At the time, the investigation into Burisma was dormant, according to former Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
Amid the Ukraine scandal, the House of Representatives officially launched a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump earlier this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that Trump “must be held accountable” and that “no one is above the law.”