NEW YORK - President Donald Trump asked the President of Ukraine in July to probe Trump's political rival, Joe Biden. And he wanted his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to help.

“Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you," Trump said, according to a rough transcript of the call.

"I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney General. Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great.”

“Rudy Giuliani is a great lawyer, he was a great mayor, he is highly respected,” said Trump.

Yes, Giuliani, who is not employed by the federal government, appears to have been acting as an envoy for the president in Ukraine.

According to the Washington Post, Giuliani was pursuing his own Ukraine agenda - focused on Biden - as top foreign policy officials in the Trump administration were sidelined.

“Rudy — he did all of this,” one unnamed U.S. official said. “This s---show that we’re in — it’s him injecting himself into the process.”

Giuliani insisted the State Department dispatched him.

“I never talked to a Ukrainian official until the State Department called me and asked me to do it. And then I reported every conversation back to them,” said Giuliani on Fox News.

Trump says Giuliani was not only involved in the president's effort to encourage Ukraine to investigate Biden. He was trying to dig into the origins of the Mueller investigation.

Rudy is looking to also find out where the phony witch hunt started.

Giuliani, meanwhile, has been lashing out in television interviews defending himself and Trump.

“Shut up, moron. Shut up. You don't know what you are talking about. You don't know what you are talking about, idiot,” said Giuliani on Fox News.

An impeachment inquiry is beginning in Washington against President Trump. And it is sure to also focus on the role Giuliani has played when it comes to soliciting help from Ukraine to target Trump's political rival.