Rudy Giuliani was briefly locked out of Twitter after he posted the phone number of a key adviser to Ukraine's president
- US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was temporarily locked out of his Twitter account on Thursday after he shared texts that revealed the phone number of an adviser to Ukraine's president.
- Twitter told The Verge that Giuliani had violated Twitter's rules by sharing personal information.
- Giuliani has been sharing texts between him and State Department and Ukrainian officials on Twitter and on TV appearances as he mounts his defense of Trump's - and his own - dealings with Ukraine amid an impeachment inquiry.
- Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in the scandal over Trump asking Ukraine's president to investigate Joe Biden, and he has drawn the ire of some White House officials for his communications with Ukraine.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Rudy Giuliani, US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, was briefly locked out of Twitter on Thursday after he posted the phone number of a key adviser to Ukraine's president.
A Twitter spokesperson told The Verge that Giuliani's tweets shared private information, violating Twitter's rules because he did not censor the official's phone number.
Giuliani told Fox News' John Roberts that he was locked out of his account at around roughly 3:40 p.m. ET on Thursday, though was tweeting again soon after the show, The Verge reported.
Giuliani had shared screenshots of his conversation with Andriy Yermak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which included planning to meet in person.
Yermak is not named in the whistleblower complaint that kicked off impeachment proceedings against Trump based on his dealings with Ukraine.
However, he has emerged as central to the inquiry after texts released by House Democrats on Thursday revealed that Yermak had communicated with State Department officials and understood that Trump would not meet with Zelensky unless Zelensky publicly committed to investigating Joe Biden, the former vice president and Trump's current election rival.
Kurt Volker, the former State Department's special envoy to Ukraine, told House Democrats on Thursday that Giuliani had come up with the idea of drafting a statement for Zelensky to announce such an investigation into Biden after talking to Yermak, The New York Times reported.
Ukraine never made such a statement, and it is not clear if it was ever brought to Zelensky.
Giuliani has in recent days shared messages that he says are past conversations with both US State Department and Ukrainian officials, arguing that they clear him and Trump of any allegations of wrongdoing.
Read more: Trump's former adviser slammed Giuliani for echoing 'completely debunked' conspiracy theories
He said on Thursday that he was sharing the messages to prove that he was doing nothing wrong.
"Let's see how crooked Dems and their Corrupt Media can twist a lawful process and make false and defamatory attacks on people. By doing it in secret they are creating a false sense something is wrong. That's why I put out some of my texts," he wrote.
Giuliani has emerged as central to the backlash against Trump's dealings with Ukraine, and maintains that he first began to contact Ukrainian officials at the request of the State Department.
The whistleblower complaint describes Giuliani as "central" to Trump's efforts to gain influence in Ukraine.
The White House memo also revealed that Trump asked Zelensky to work with Giuliani, as well as Attorney General William Barr, in looking at Biden.
Giuliani has been giving a series of erratic interviews and TV appearances to defend Trump over the past week, including one where he called himself the "real hero" of the scandal.
A number of White House officials also say that they blame Giuliani for the current scandal.
One US official told The Washington Post: "Rudy - he did all of this."
"This s--- show that we're in - it's him injecting himself into the process."