WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump denied directing Rudy Giuliani to go to Ukraine to look for dirt on his political rivals, in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly.
"No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior," Trump told O'Reilly in an interview streamed Tuesday on the internet.
Giuliani has said publicly that he conducted an investigation "concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption" on Trump's behalf.
Asked by O'Reilly what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump said "you have to ask that to Rudy."
"Rudy has other clients, other than me," Trump said. "He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years."
Giuliani is under investigation by federal prosecutors related to his activities in Ukraine. Trump's effort to force Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to open investigations that could be damaging to his political rivals including former Vice President Joe Biden is the subject of the House impeachment inquiry.
Witnesses in the inquiry have testified that Giuliani directed a shadow U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine aimed at securing the investigations Trump desired.
