Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/104

 Over the months that followed, Mr. Giuliani aggressively pursued his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Mr. Biden. During these efforts—and subsequently—he claimed to act on behalf of his client, President Trump. On October 30, 2019, he tweeted, "All of the information I obtained came from interviews conducted as ... private defense counsel to POTUS, to defend him against false allegations." On November 6, 2019, he tweeted, "The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption, was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges ..." The Ukraine Report observes, "Numerous U.S. officials, including Ambassadors Sondland, Volker, and Bolton, as well as Lt. Col. Vindman and others, were well aware of Mr. Giuliani's efforts to push Ukraine to pursue these political investigations."

As Mr. Giuliani worked hard to advance his client's personal and political interests—and not "foreign policy"—President Trump also required United States officials responsible for Ukraine to "talk with Rudy." For example, Ambassador Sondland recalled that during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 23 with the U.S. officials who had attended the Ukrainian inauguration, President Trump "just kept saying: Talk to Rudy, talk to Rudy." Ambassador Sondland explained that they "understood that talk with Rudy meant talk with Mr. Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer," and "if we did not talk to Rudy, nothing would move forward on Ukraine." President Trump thus directed key U.S. officials to coordinate with and carry out the requests of his private lawyer, who was acting "solely" as President Trump's "defense attorney," regarding Ukraine.

Mr. Giuliani's importance was not lost on the Ukrainians. By July 10, 2019, President Zelensky's top aide came to appreciate "that the key for many things is Rudi [sic] and I ready to talk with him at any time," and, as set forth above, key U.S. officials worked with Mr. Giuliani to convey messages to the Ukrainians and prepare President Zelensky for his July 25 call. Thus, on the July 25 call, President Zelensky preemptively mentioned that "we are hoping very much that Mr. Giuliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once he comes to Ukraine." President Trump replied, "I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be