President Donald Trump's legal attack dog is barking away.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says any effort to impeach the president will ultimately tarnish Democrats. Giuliani is Trump's personal attorney.
"They want to do impeachment based on a conversation they haven't heard, that's been mischaracterized four times, and which the president of Ukraine says is perfectly appropriate," Giuliani said Tuesday. "That gives you an idea of how phony they are, what liars they are, how desperate they are. This will backfire in their face worse than Russian collusion."
After appearing at a rally outside the United Nations to call for regime change in Iran, Giuliani spoke one-on-one with NY1 about Trump's call with the president of Ukraine, in which Trump reportedly asked the Ukrainian president to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. The idea that the president asked a foreign power to go after a political rival of his has enraged Democrats.
"If the president of the United States didn't ask the president of the Ukraine to investigate this, he shouldn't be the president of the United States," Giuliani said. "Perfectly appropriate. In fact, Joe Biden is not just a political rival. The Democrats give him that designation because he's been a protected species for years."
When we spoke to Giuliani, Trump had not yet committed to releasing the transcript of his call with the president of Ukraine. Giuliani told NY1 he opposed the idea.
"You don't release conversations with world leaders. Ever. Because they don't talk to you if you do. Do you realize the damage that these perverse Democrats are doing to our democracy?" Giuliani said.
Trump does not seem to be taking his lawyer's advice: after we spoke to Giuliani, the president ordered that the transcript of his conversation with the president of Ukraine be made public.
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