Giuliani Was Not a ‘Minor Player’ in Ukraine

One of President Donald Trump’s defense lawyers described Rudy Giuliani as “just a minor player” in Ukraine matters that resulted in the president being impeached. But the evidence suggests otherwise.

White House defense lawyer Jane Raskin made her remarks about Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, on Jan. 27, the second day of the Trump team’s opening arguments.

“[I]n this trial, in this moment, Mr. Giuliani is just a minor player — that shiny object designed to distract you,” she said, arguing at length that “Mr. Giuliani’s role in this may not be all that it is cracked up to be.”

Giuliani, in fact, has been at the center of events in Ukraine, and the president put him there.

The whistleblower complaint, which triggered the impeachment of Trump, alleged that Giuliani was a “central figure” in the president’s efforts to solicit interference in the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign by pressuring Ukraine to investigate Democrats, including presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.

“This interference includes, among other things, pressuring a foreign country to investigate one of the President’s main domestic political rivals,” the complaint said. “The President’s personal lawyer, Mr. Rudolph Giuliani, is a central figure in this effort.”

That largely has been corroborated by the evidence gathered during the impeachment inquiry, as well as statements that have been made by and about Giuliani.

‘Rudy Very Much Knows What’s Happening’

Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified that the president ordered him, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Kurt Volker, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, to work with Giuliani on Ukraine matters.