President Donald Trump on Tuesday unleashed a flagrant lie about orders he gave to his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani.
During an interview with Bill O'Reilly, Trump claimed that he didn't direct Giuliani to go to Ukraine on his behalf despite the fact that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to work with Giuliani in his quest to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden.
Washington Post reporter Philip Bump took a look at all the evidence surrounding the president's interactions with Giuliani on Ukraine and deemed his statement to O'Reilly an act of "unmitigated ludicrousness."
In particular, Bump looks at not only the transcript of Trump's infamous call with Zelensky, but also the sworn testimony from European Union ambassador Gordon Sondland about the way that Trump demanded that policy toward Ukraine be handled through Giuliani.
"Well, when the president says 'Talk to my personal attorney’ and then Mr. Giuliani as his personal attorney makes certain requests or demands, we assume it’s coming from the president," said Sondland.
Additionally, Bump says that Giuliani himself has stated that he was going to Ukraine on Trump's behalf -- and not anyone else's.
"So when Giuliani told the New York Times in May that he planned to travel to Ukraine to advocate investigations that would 'be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government,' we’re meant to assume what?" Bump asks rhetorically. "That Giuliani was referring to some client beyond Trump? When Giuliani further said specifically that Trump 'basically knows what I’m doing, sure, as his lawyer,' how are we to interpret that?"
