An emboldened Trump now freely admits he sent Giuliani to dig up dirt on Bidens – after lying for months he had not

President Donald Trump has just admitted he sent his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden's son Hunter. This is the first time Trump has made this admission, previously he has denied directing the former NYC mayor and at times even distancing himself from him.

Trump made the admission in a podcast to Geraldo Rivera, who asked: "Was it strange to send Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine, your personal lawyer? Are you sorry you did that?"

"No, not at all," Trump replied, as CNN reports, before detailing his though process and reasons for turning outside the government and established processes.

"Here's my choice: I deal with the Comeys of the world, or I deal with Rudy," Trump said, calling his attorney a "crime fighter."

Trump explained that he has "a very bad taste" of the US intelligence community, because of the Russia investigation, so he turned to Giuliani.

"So when you tell me, why did I use Rudy, and one of the things about Rudy, number one, he was the best prosecutor, you know, one of the best prosecutors, and the best mayor," Trump said. "But also, other presidents had them. FDR had a lawyer who was practically, you know, was totally involved with government. Eisenhower had a lawyer. They all had lawyers."

As recently as November, as the impeachment inquiry was expanding, Trump was asked if he has told Giuliani to go to Ukraine to dig up dirt.

"No, I didn't direct him," Trump lied.

Read the entire CNN report here.