President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo knew about his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic front-runner in the race to unseat Trump in 2020.
Giuliani’s comments come as Pompeo faces a wave of subpoenas from three House committees demanding documents related to their investigation of a whistleblower complaint filed last month regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
“Did Secretary of State Pompeo know you were doing these things? Did he ask you to do these things?” CBS’s Margaret Brennan asked Giuliani during Sunday’s episode of “Face the Nation.”
“He did not,” said Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City. “But when I talked to the secretary last week, he said that he was aware of it.”
The complaint, authored by an unnamed U.S. intelligence official, alleges Trump repeatedly pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Biden and his son during a July phone call and that the White House tried to cover up the conversation.
The whistleblower named Giuliani as a “central figure” in this effort and alleged US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker advised Ukrainian officials on how to “navigate” Trump’s demands. Volker resigned Friday after the complaint was released to the public a day earlier.
Giuliani has repeatedly claimed that his meetings with Ukrainian operatives were carried out at the State Department’s behest, but Sunday marked the first time he has suggested Pompeo had direct knowledge of his efforts.
Giuliani told CBS that Volker called him on July 19, six days before Trump’s call with Zelensky, to ask if he would meet Andriy Yermak, one of Zelensky’s top aides. He said he then met with Yermak and later debriefed Volker and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland about their exchange.
“At the time, they didn’t mention the secretary of state,” Giuliani said. “When I spoke to the secretary last week, I said, ‘Are you aware of this?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know about this.’”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.
The whistleblower complaint prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday to formally announce an impeachment inquiry into Trump.
Giuliani said earlier Sunday that he’s “proud of what he did” and that he would cooperate with the impeachment inquiry if Trump asked him to.
“I have to be guided by my client,” he told ABC’s “This Week,” referring to Trump. “If he decides that he wants me to testify, of course, I’ll testify ― even though I think Adam Schiff is an illegitimate [House Intelligence Committee] chairman.”
Schiff said Sunday that he hasn’t decided whether he wants Giuliani to testify.
Watch Giuliani’s full interview on “Face the Nation” below: