2019 audio shows Rudy Giuliani pushing a Ukrainian official to investigate Biden in exchange for better relations with Trump
- CNN published audio of Rudy Giuliani asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019.
- Giuliani is heard saying that Ukraine's president should announce an investigation into Biden.
- Shortly after the Giuliani call, Trump pressed Ukraine's president to investigate Biden, which prompted his first impeachment.
CNN has published a leaked 2019 audio of Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer of then-President Donald Trump, pressing an Ukrainian official Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
During the call - between Giuliani, a US diplomat, and an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, per CNN - Giuliani is heard repeatedly saying that Zelensky should publicly announce an investigation into Biden, who a presidential candidate at the time.
Listen to parts of the call here:
Giuliani said that doing so could create better relations between Trump and Ukraine, and a meeting between him and Zelensky.
"If he could say something like that, on his own, in conversation, it would go a long way. It would go a long way with the President to solve the problems," Giuliani can be heard saying.
CNN reported that the call took place in July 2019, and was before the July 25, 2019, call between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump pressed him to investigate the activities of Joe Biden's family in Ukraine.
That call led to Trump's impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives in December 2019. He was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Senate in January.
Read more: Trump is still haunting the Justice Department as it strives to regain public confidence under Biden
Witnesses testified during Trump's first impeachment hearings that there was no evidence that Biden or his son Hunter ran afoul of US laws or foreign policy when the younger Biden joined the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, though the State Department official George Kent said the optics were questionable.
Giuliani is currently under a federal criminal investigation focusing on whether he broke foreign lobbying laws.