mr. giuliani. on july 10, 2019 andriy yermak the top aide to president zelensky sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani here do not text the ukrainian officials said this quote thank you for meeting and your clear and logical position. will be great to meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy and i'm ready to talk with him at any time. let me repeat that. the key for many things is rudy. so the president used his personal agent to conduct his scheme with ukraine. they were in frequent contact, everyone white house officials and ukrainian officials knew they had no choice but to deal with giuliani. what was mr. giuliani doing that was so important to ukraine? again the evidence is clear. mr. giuliani's focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rifle to help the president's re-election. we have walked through some of the timelines of mr. giuliani's actions in statements about ukraine but let's just lined them up brie

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 house back, giuliani and the dash 1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear, we do not know what mr. giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was

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 house back giuliani and the -1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear. we do not know what giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other end of that

mr. giuliani's ukraine conspiracy theories secretary pompeo and mr. 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

mr. giuliani. on july 10, 2019 andriy yermak the top aide to president zelensky sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani here do not text the ukrainian officials said this quote thank you for meeting and your clear and logical position. will be great to meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy and i'm ready to talk with him at any time. let me repeat that. the key for many things is rudy. so the president used his personal agent to conduct his scheme with ukraine. they were in frequent contact, everyone white house officials and ukrainian officials knew they had no choice but to deal with giuliani. what was mr. giuliani doing that was so important to ukraine? again the evidence is clear. mr. giuliani's focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rifle to help the president's re-election. we have walked through some of the timelines of mr. giuliani's actions in statements about ukraine but let's just lined them up brie

mr. 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 p

mr. giuliani's actions. how do we know this? let's start with the letter signed by giuliani to president zelensky. and here is that letter. on may 10th, 2019, mr. giuliani wrote to a foreign leader, president-elect zelensky. the letter reads "in my capacity as a personal counsel to president trump, and with his knowledge and consent," rudy giuliani, not a government official to speak about president trump's specific request. eddie makes it clear, it was in his role as the president's counsel. now, mr. giuliani didn't just tell the foreign leader -- he also told the press. the day before mr. giuliani's letter to zelensky, "the new york times" published an article about mr. giuliani's upcoming trip to ukraine. and here is the slide about that article. it said "rudy giuliani plans ukraine trip to push for inquiries that could help trump. mr. giuliani said his trip was to press ukraine to initiate investigations into false allegations against the bidens, and a 2016 election. and it was at the request of the president. he stated that

mr. giuliani throughout 2019. this is an important fact. mr. uliani served as the president's point person in executing his corrupt scheme. mr. giuliani repeatedly emphasized that his role was to advance the president's personal agenda. the president's political interests. not to promote the national security interests of the united states. the fact that the president's private attorney was in contact at key junctures with the secretary of state, whose senior officials were directed by the president to support mr. giuliani's efforts in ukraine is relevant, disturbing, and telling. for example, we know that on march 26th, as mr. giuliani was pursuing the president's private agenda in ukraine, and just one week after "the hill" published an article featuring mr. giuliani's ukraine conspiracy theories, secretary pompeo and mr. giuliani 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 for secretary pompeo. based on these records, it is also clear th

mr. giuliani denied to us that he ever did that. asked whether mr. speaking on behalf of the president in ukraine, mayor giuliani told us tonight, quote, never. he also called mr. parnas a, quote, sad situation. this was one big day. tomorrow will be another. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening. >> really an extraordinary hour. i think a lot of us as we were watching had one fundamental question. why is he doing this? why has he decided to basically turn on his friends in the conspiracy and talk about the conspiracy? >> so what seemed to emerge today when i was talking with him during the course of the interview and talking with him about the fact that he was going to do the interview is that he really believes the more he makes public about what he saw and what he knows and what he

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 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 e

mr. giuliani throughout 2019. this is an important fact. mr. giuliani served as the president's point person in executing his corrupt scheme. mr. giuliani repeatedly emphasized that his role was to advance the president's personal agenda. the president's political interest, not to promote the national security interest of the united states, the fact that the president's private attorney was in contact at key junctures with the secretary of state, who senior officials were directed by the president to support mr. giuliani's efforts in ukraine is relevant, disturbing, and telling. for example, we know that on march 26th, as mr. giuliani was pursuing the president's private agenda in ukraine, and just one week after the hill published an article featuring mr. giuliani's roots, ukraine conspiracy theories, secretary pompeo and mr. giuliani 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 t

mr. giuliani?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 scary be

mr. giuliani was ever in contact with mr.ifically 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 part of --

mr. giuliani.democrats also rely on testimony that mayor giuliani told them masters vulgar and silent that, in his view, to be credible, ukrainia statement on anticorruption should specifically mention investigations into the 2016 election interference and a burisma. but when investor volker was asked if he knew if giuliani was, these are his words "conveying messages that president trump wanted conveyed to the ukrainians, volker said that he did not have that impression" and he believed that giuliani was doing his own communication about what he believed he was interested in. but even more significant than their reliance on presumptions, assumptions, and unsupported conclusions is the manager's failure to place in any fair context mr. giuliani's actual role in exploring ukrainian corruption. to hear their presentation you might think that mayor giuliani had parachuted into the president's orbit in the spring of 2019 for the express purpose of carrying out a political hit job. they would have you b

mr. giuliani was a key voice with the president on ukraine. he joked that every time ukraine is mentioned, giuliani pops up. ambassador bolton also communicated directly with mr. giuliani at key junctures. according to call records obtained by the house, mr. giuliani connected with ambassador bolton's office three times for brief calls between april 23rd and may 10th, 2019. a time period that corresponds with the recall of ambassador yovanovich and the acceleration of mr. giuliani's efforts on behalf of president trump to pressure ukraine into opening investigations that would benefit his re-election campaign. for instance, on april 23rd, the day before the state department recalled ambassador yovanovich from ukraine, mr. giuliani had an 8:28 call from the white house. 30 minutes letter, he had a 48-second call with a phone number associated with ambassador bolton. if called to testify, we can ask ambassador bolton directly what transpired in that call and whether that phone call informed his assessment that mr. giuliani was, quote, a hand gren

mr. giuliani in key junctures. according to records obtained by the house, mr. giuliani connected with ambassador bolton's office three times for brief calls between april 23rd and may 10th 2019. at time period that corresponds with the recall of ambassador yovanovitch and pressured ukraine into opening investigations that would benefit his reelection campaign. for instance on april 23rd, the day before the state department recalled ambassador yovanovitch from ukraine, mr. giuliani had an eight minute 22nd call from the white house, 30 minutes later, he had a 482nd call with the phone number associated with ambassador bolton. if called to testify, we can ask ambassador bolton directly what transpired on that call and whether that phone call informed his assessment that mr. giuliani was a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up. and we can ask mr. bolton why when there are approximately 1.8 million companies in ukraine, several hundred thousand of which have been accused of corruption, the president was focused on only one. he didn't care about anything el

mr. giuliani lies divorce. in order to complete his vision, mr. giuliani first needed ambassador out of the way. and so in early 2019, mr. giuliani as their campaign against the ambassador printed an effort that involved mr. johnny's allies in ukraine. .-ellipsis that scheme begins with the attempt to get ambassador yovanovitch out of the way. by all accounts ambassador yovanovitch was a highly respected and effective ambassador. witnesses praised her 33 year career as a nonpartisan public servant. they told us she particularly excelled at fighting corruption of broad. president george bush named her as ambassador twice. president obama nominated her as ambassador to ukraine where she represented the united states in 2016 to 2019 . eradicating corruption in the ukraine has been a key policy priority of the us government for years. during the house inquiry,the ambassador explains why implementing this anticorruption policy was so important . >> as critical as the war against russia is, ukraine's struggling democracy as equally important challenge :

mr. giuliani's demands. specifically, he insisted the statement include specific references to burisma and the 2016 election and biden. throughout this process, sondland stated that he knew they needed the approval of giuliani for the press statement. that they knew giuliani represented the interests of the president. rudy giuliani admitted on live tell stroigs pressure ukraine to look into joe biden. not into corruption. into joe biden. in september 2019, chris cuomo said, you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden? in response, giuliani insisted, of course i do. he insisted they look into an american citizen on behalf of his client, president trump. finally during the impendancy of the impeachment proceedings, mr. giuliani has not ceased his efforts to dig up dirt. the president reportedly called in immediately upon landing, asked what did you get? to which mr. giuliani responded, more than you can imagine. it is worth noting that in the presentation about giuliani -- >> thank you, mr. manager. >> for inves

mr. giuliani throughout 2019. this is an important fact. mr. giuliani served as the president's point person in executing his corrupt schemes. mr. giuliani repeatedly emphasized that his goal was to advance the president's personal agenda. the president's political interests, not to promote the national security interest of the united states. the fact that the president private attorney was in contact, a key juncture with the secretary of state who senior officials were direct and via the president to support mr. giuliani's effort in ukraine is relevant, disturbing and telling. for example we know that on march 26, as mr. giuliani was pursuing the president's private agenda in ukraine and just one week after the article featuring mr. giuliani's ukraine conspiracy theories secretary pompeo and mr. 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 p

mr. giuliani. h, 2019, the top aid to president zelensky sent a text to ambassador volker about rudy giuliani. in that text, the ukrainian officials said this. quote, thank you for meeting and your clear and logical position will be great. meet with you before my departure and discuss. i feel that the key for many things is rudy giuliani. they used to t to conduct his scheme. they were in frequent contact. everyone, white house official asks ukrainian official, knew they had no choice. what was mr. giuliani doing that was so important to kraukraine? his focus was to get investigations into president trump's political rival to sepp help the president's reelection. we have walked through some of the time line of the actions and statements about ukraine. but let's just line them up briefly because it makes the story so clear. april 2019. vice president biden officially announced his campaign to the democratic party's presidential nomination. and a reminder at the time of biden's announce mement and for

mr. giuliani, just recently in we are hoping very much that mr. iuliani will be able to travel to ukraine in we will meet once he comes. the ukrainian leader new giuliani represented president trump's political interests in his country. in to help unlock the long sought after oval office meeting. the president zelinski desires. in the funny investigations start with present trump on the july 25th call not designed to bolster the national security interest of the united states of america, quite the contrary. president trump for the benefit himself in his own reelection prospects. the july 25th call, president trump also suggested the president zelinski speak with the attorney general. william r. but the chewing take investigations that the president sought. this has important to keep in mind. at no time during this entire scheme, was there an ongoing american law enforcement investigation. into the funny slender related to joe biden or the conspiracy theory related to ukrainian interference in the 2016, election. at no time, was there an ongoing ame

mr. giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that mr. giuliani will be able to travel to ukraine and we will meet once he comes. the ukrainian leader knew giuliani represented president trump's political interest in his country and could help unlock the long sought after oval office meeting that president zelensky desired. the phoney investigation sought by president trump on the july 25th call were not designed to bolster the national security interests of the united states of america. quite the contrary. president trump sought to benefit himself and his own reelection prospects. on a july 25th call, president trump also suggested that president zelensky speak with the attorney general, william barr, about the two fake investigations that the president sought. this is important to keep in mind. at no time during this entire sorted scheme was there an ongoing american law enforcement investigation into the phony slander related to joe biden or the conspiracy theory related to ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. at no time was the

mr. giuliani. house democrats also rely on testimony that mayor giuliani told ambassadors volker and solid that in his view, to be credible ukrainian statement on anticorruption should specifically mention investigations into 2016 election interference and burisma. but when ambassador volker was asked whether he knew it giuliani was conveying messages that president trump want to convey to the ukrainians, volker said that he did not have that impression. and he believed that giuliani was doing his own communication about what he believed he was interested in. but even more significant than the relied on presumptions, assumptions and unsupported conclusions, is the managers failure to place in any other context mr. giuliani's actual role and exploring ukrainian corruption. to hear their presentation you might think that mayor giuliani had parachuted into the president's orbit in the spring of 2019 for the express purpose of carrying out a political hit job here they would have believe that mayor giu

mr. giuliani's lies to flourish. in order to complete list mission, mr. giuliani first needed ambassador yovanovitch out of the way. and so in early 2019 mr. giuliani launched a public smear campaign against the ambassador, an effort that involved mr. giuliani's allies in ukraine, the president's allies in the united states, and eventually president trump himself. please remember that the object of the president's ukraine scheme was to obtain a corrupt advantage for his reelection campaign, as we will show, the president went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election. that scheme begins with the attempt to get ambassador yovanovitch, quote, out of the way, unquote. by all accounts ambassador yovanovitch was a highly respected and effective ambassador. witnesses uniformly praised her 33-year career as a nonpartisan public servant and told that she particularly excelled in citing corruption abroad. president george bush named her as an ambassador twice and president obama nominated here as ambassador to ukraine, where she represented the united

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 house back giuliani and the -1 number connected for four minutes and six seconds. we should be clear. we do not know what giuliani said or even who he talked to. we do not know who was on the other end of that

mr. giuliani throughout 2019. this is an important fact. mr. giuliani served as the president's point person in executing his corrupt scheme. mr. giuliani repeatedly emphasized that his role was to advance the president's personal agenda. the president's political interests, not to promote the national security interest of the united states. the fact that the president's private attorney was in contact at key junctures with the secretary of state whose senior officials were directed by the president to support mr. giuliani's efforts in ukraine is relevant, disturbing and tell i ing. for example we know that on march 26th, as mr. giuliani was pursuing the president's private agenda in ukraine and just one week after the hill published an article featuring mr. giuliani's ukraine conspiracy theories, secretary pompeo and mr. giuliani 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 s

mr. giuliani placed a series of calls, series of calls to the state department switchboard that secretary pompeo and the white house switchboard in quick succession all within less than 30 minutes. obtaining e-mails and other documents regarding the state department leadership interactions with president trump's private lawyer in this period when mr. giuliani was actively orchestrating a pressure campaign in ukraine related to the sham investigation into vice president biden and the 2016 election would further clarify the president's involvement and direction at this key juncture in the formation of a plot to

mr. giuliani was promoting of course was asking ukraine to dig up dirt on biden. dr. hill also testified that ambassador bolton was so concerned so concerned he told dr. hill and other members of the staff, quote, nobody should be meeting with giuliani, end quote. and that was, quote, closely monitoring what mr. giuliani was doing and the messaging he was sending out, end quote. let's ask ambassador bolton. if mr. giuliani wasn't doing anything wrong, why were you so concerned about his behavior? you directed your staff to have no part in this. if mr. giuliani wasn't trying to dig up dirt on biden, why did you seem to think he was -- that he could, quote, blow everything up? fourth, the president has said that there was nothing wrong with the july 25th call. but once again, the evidence suggests that ambassador bolton would testify that the opposite is true. according to witness testimony, ambassador bolton expressed concerns even before the call that it would be, quote, a disaster because he thought there would be, quote, talk of investigations or worse. now, if the

mr. giuliani hasn't, donald trumphasn't. to the contrary and consistent with everything we know about the president, he has done nothing but double down. during his first week, the first week of december, mr. jewel traveled to ukraine in hungry to interview the corrupt former ukrainian prosecutors who had been pushing these false narratives about vice president biden and this kooky conspiracy about 206. mr. giuliani met with current members of ukraine parliament who advocated for that same fraudulent investigation. last year he told abc news he would take political dirt from a foreign country if he was offered it again. if he has learned anything there the last few years is that he can get away with anything and do it again. can't be indicted and couldn't be impeached and if you believe our attorney general can't even be inestigated. oufounders worried situation just like this. james madison put it simply. president quote, might betray his trust to foreign powers. in his farewell address george washington warned americans to

mr. giuliani's demands, specifically mr. iani insisted the statement include specific references to burisma and the 2,016th election and biden. through the process, sondland stated they needed the approval for the press statement and that the new giuliani represented the interest of the president. rudy giuliani admitted on live television they are pressuring ukraine to look into joe biden, not corruption but joe biden. september, 2019, they asked giuliani you did ask ukraine to look into joe biden and the response he insisted of course i did. mr. giuliani insisted ukraine look into an american citizen on behalf of his client, president trump. finally, during the impeachment proceedings, mr. giuliani would dig up dirt to benefit the president. in december, he again traveled to meet with ukrainian officials just described is a secret assignment, an act of which the president reportedly called immediately upon landing what did you get to which mr. giuliani responded more than you can imagine. it's worth noting in ms. raskin's pr

mr. giuliani was pushing. the conversation then moved on to other topics. >> 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 21 and then on july 25, president trump did not refer to any anticorruption efforts or the war against russia. he never even uttered the word corruption. instead come here only spoke about investigating his political opponents. he later confirmed this narrow and singular focus tow the pres. on october 3 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 bidens. it's a very simple answer. here's that conference. >> what exactly did you hope zelenski would you about the bidens after focal? >> i would think that if they were honest about a it, they wod startt a major investigation ino the bidens. it's a very simple answer. >> so we know from witnesses, the presi

mr. giuliani, contacted mr. giuliani, and said that he had been in touch with the ukrainian president, that he had conveyed the message, and that, in fact, the ukrainian government had agreed to make that announcement. now, secretary of energy rick perry has denied playing any role in this scheme, but he did crash out of the trump cabinet just as this scandal started to come to the surface. it was october 16th when "the wall street journal" reported that, in fact, secretary perry did call rudy giuliani to talk about ukraine. he did so at the direction of president trump. the following day, october 17th, rick perry tendered his resignation to the president as energy secretary. the day after that, october 18th, secretary perry announced that he would not comply with a subpoena in the impeachment investigation. whether he would comply now with a subpoena to testify to the senate trial of the president, that remains to be seen. we'll be right back with more. >> i know that there was another conversation that perry ca

mr. giuliani. in the spring and summer of 2019 ambassador bolton caught wind of giuliani's involvement in ukraine. and soon began to express concern. ambassador bolton expressed strong concerns about giuliani's involvement in ukraine matters. bh bolton described mr. giuliani as quote a hand grenade going to blow everybody up. it was based on his fear that mr. giuliani work on behalf of the president is atempts to have ukraine announce investigations. sham investigations. and his campaign to smear ambassador yovanovitch. was backfire. and cause lasting damage to the president. it turns out he was right. >> did your boss ambassador bolton tell you that giuliani was quote a hand grenade? >> yes. >> what do you think he meant by the characterization? >> it was clear to me mt. context of the statements giuliani was making publicly. the investigations he was promoting and the story line the narrative of promoting was going backfire. i think it has backfired. >> in june, as ambassador bolton became aware

mr. giuliani discussed the ambassador, mr. bolton road. mr. holding has told associates he was always step with the president spoke with his lawyer to protect their attorney-client privilege. mr. mulvaney's attorney has put out a statement saying this. the latest story from the "new york times" called it with the book launch has more to do with publicity than the truth. john bolton never told mick mulvaney of any concerns around purported august conversation with the president nor did mr. mulvane ever have a conversation with the president or anyone else indicating ukrainian military aid was withheld in exchange for ukrainian investigation of burisma, the bible for the 2016 election. mr. mulvaney has no recollection of any conversation with mr. giuliani is simply have totally described in mr. bowles manuscript or as a was mr. mulvaney's practice to confuse himself from conversation between the the president and s personal counsel to reserve any attorney-client privilege. that from bob driscoll attorney for mick mulvaney. now, around 12:30 p.m.

mr. giuliani just recently. and we are hoping, very much, that mr. e to travel to ukraine and we will meet once he comes. the ukrainian leader knew giuliani represented president trump's political interest in his country. and could help unlock the long sought after oval office meeting that president zelensky desired. the phony investigation sought by president on the july 25th call were not designed to bolster the national security interest of the united states of america. quite the contrary. president trump sought to benefit himself and his own re-election prospects. on the july 25th call, president trump also suggested that president zelensky speak with the attorney general, william barr. about the two fake investigations that the president sought. this is important to keep in mind. at no time during this entire sordid scheme was there an ongoing american law enforcement investigation into the phony slander related to joe biden or the conspiracy theory related to ukrainian interference in the 2016 election. at no time was there an ongoing american l

mr. giuliani's lies to flourish. in order to complete his mission, mr. first needed ambassador yovanovitch out of the way. in early 2019, mr. giuliani launched a public smear campaign against ambassador, and effort that involved mr. giuliani's allies in ukraine, the president's allies in the united states, and eventually, president trump himself. please remember that the object of the president's ukraine scheme was to obtain a corrupt advantage for his reelection campaign. as we will show, the president went to extort her links to cheat in that next election. it begins with getting yovanovitch "out-of-the-way." by all accounts, ambassador yovanovitch was a highly respected and effective ambassador. witnesses uniformly praised her re

mr. giuliani in early august, several months later. mr. giuliani emphasized that the president wanted a public statement from president zelensky committing ukraine to look into the corruption issues. mr. giuliani specifically mentioned the 2016 election, including the dnc server, and burisma as two topics of importance to the president. >> giuliani exerted significant influence in this process. in fact, when on august 4th yermak inquired again about the presidential meeting and ambassador colver turned not to the national security council staff or to the state department to arrange it and follow up, he turned to giuliani again. volker told yermak he would speak with giuliani later that day and call the ukrainian president's aide afterwards. volker then text giuliani to ask abo about the madrid meeting and set up the call. giuliani replies that meeting with yermak was excellent and he would call later. phone records obtained by the committee show a 16-minute call on august 5th between ambassador volker and giuliani. ambassador volker then te

mr. giuliani had demanded. 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 withou

mr. giuliani until july. and in the july follow-up by mr. volker, it happened only because the ukrainian government has to be putt in touch with them. volker testified president zelensky's senior aide, andriy yermak asked to be connected to mayor giuliani. house democrats rely on onstimony that mayor giuliani told ambassador volker and sondland that in his view to be credible a ukrainian statement on anticorruption should specifically mention investigations into 2016 election interference and burisma. but when ambassador volker was asked whether he knew if giuliani was coming into these are his words, conveying messages president trumpon wantd conveyed to the ukrainians, volker said he didn't have that impression. and he believed giuliani was doing his own communication about what he believed he was interested in. more significant than the reliance on presumption and unsupported conclusions. as the failure to place in any context, mr. giuliani's actual role in exploring the ukrainian corruption. to hear the presentation, you might think thatn

mr. giuliani.democrats also rely on testimony that mayor giuliani told ambassadors volker and sondland that in his view to be credible a ukrainian statement on anti-corruption should specifically mention investigations into 2016 election interference and burisma but when ambassador volker was asked if he knew that giuliani is conveying messages that president trump wanted conveyed to the ukrainians volker said he didn't have that impression a impression and he believed that giuliani doing his own communication about what he believed he was interested in. but even more significant than the reliance on presumptions, assumptions and unsupported conclusions, is the managers' failure to place in any fair context mr. giuliani's actual role in exploring ukrainian corruption. to hear their presentation, you might think that mayor giuliani had parachuted into the president's orbit in the spring of 2019 for the express purpose of carrying out a political hit job. they'd have you believe that mayor giuliani w

mr. giuliani denied to us that he ever did that, asked whether mr. parnas was speaking on behalf of the president in ukraine, mayor giuliani told us tonight, quote, never. he also called mr. parnas a, quote, sad situation. this was one big day. tomorrow will be another. see you again tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening. >> really an extraordinary hour. i think a lot of us as we were watching had one fundamental question. why is he doing this? why has he decided to basically turn on his friends in the conspiracy and talk about the conspiracy? >> so what seemed to emerge today when i was talking with him during the course of the interview and talking with him about the fact that he was going to do the interview is that he really believes the more he makes public about what he saw and what he knows and what he can document, the safer he is. he's, i think, worried that if this -- if the information that he's got is only inside his own head or in his own, you know, electronic devices and things like that tha

mr. giuliani, because the president directed us to do so. >> seth: he literally said over and over, "the t told us to do this." but i believe it, because no one would work with rudy giuliani unless they were ordered to. [ laughter ] working with rudy is like when your mom makes you hang out with her friend's weird son "why don't you take rudy to the mall with you? "because he smells like onions, and he never stops screaming." [ laughter ] after sondland made clear he carried out the president's orders, he went on to explain specifically that what rudy giuliani wanted was definitely a quid pro quo. and that he did it specifically because that's what trump wanted >> mr. giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a white house visit for president zelensky mr. giuliani demanded that ukraine make a public statement announcing the investigations of the 2016 election dnc server and burisma. mr. giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the united states. and we knew these investigations were important to the president. >> seth: there it is he just said it. this was a qui

mr. giuliani just recently, and we are hoping very much that mr. giuliani would be able to travel to ukraine and we will meet once he comes to ukraine. now, you should read this carefully yourself, but this may be the first mention of giuliani. and zelensky is bringing him up and saying, i'd really like to meet with giuliani. now, this is july. what do we know now about the meeting between giuliani and zelensky? 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 the

lice to flourish in order to complete his mission mr giuliani 1st needed him bassy of on a bitch out of the way and so in early 2019 mrs giuliani launched a public smear campaign against the ambassador an effort that involved mr giuliani's allies in ukraine the president's allies in the united states and eventually president trump himself please remember that the object of the president's ukraine scheme was to obtain a corrupt advantage for his reelection campaign as we will show the president went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election that scheme begins with the attempt to get ambassador ivanovich quote out of the way unquote by all accounts and that city event of it was a highly respected and effective embassador.

mr. giuliani, the president's private counsel. ambassador volker was clear that he understood mr. giuliani just to be a source of information for the president and someone who knew about ukraine and someone who spoke to the president. in fact it was the ukrainians were asked to be connected to mr. giuliani simply because he was someone who could provide information to the president. ambassador volker testified it was not his understanding and he did not believe that mr. giuliani was carrying out policy directives for the president but rather indicating his views of what he thought would be something useful for the ukrainians to convince the president of the anticorruption bona fides. it is of course, the president's policy is always to abide by the law. i'm not in a position to make pledges for the president here but the president's policy is always to abide by the law and would continue to do so. i think it is worth pointing out that many presidents starting with president washington have relied on persons who are their trusted confidant but who are not actually employees of the g

mr. 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 only

mr. giuliani. i've seen -- i follow this on the intel side very closely. i see nothing but innuendo, speculation. i say i'm going to be impartial and keep an open mind. if they've got things to bring forward. but why would they wait for the great reveal at this stage of the process when this has been promised literally for months and months and months on end? again, the whole notion of i think this part is true from the house presentation, the whole mention of the bidens seemed to only pop up late spring, and, you know, the kind of crazy theory that somehow it was ukraine rather than russia when we all know it was russia and, frankly, russia continues, you know, that's been going for some time. again, right out of the putin playbook. so if they've got revealing evidence -- thank you all. >> thank you, senator, very much. >> okay, folks. let me say a few things. first, the president's lawyers will have their work cut out for them. the house managers

mr. 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 only