Maguire says he doesn’t know if Giuliani has security clearance

Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire said Thursday that he doesn’t know whether President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has security clearance amid questions over his role in Trump’s interactions with Ukraine’s president.

“I don’t know whether or not Mr. Giuliani has a security clearance,” Maguire said during his public testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee on the whistleblower complaint that has become the center of an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Maguire’s comment came in response to questioning from Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) about whether it was improper for Giuliani to be involved in Trump asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

{mosads}In a partial transcript of a call on July 25, Trump asked Zelensky to work with Giuliani on an investigation into Biden.

Giuliani’s name came up five times in the document, which was released on Wednesday and is titled formally as a “memorandum of telephone conversation.” The document makes clear it is not a verbatim transcript of the conversation.

“I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it out,” Trump said during the call.

The whistleblower complaint released on Thursday says that Giuliani “is a central figure” in the effort for Trump to use “the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign government in the 2020 U.S. election.”

According to the nine-page complaint, Giuliani met one of Zelensky’s advisers in Madrid on Aug. 2 as a “direct follow-up” to the call between Trump and Zelensky.

Giuliani first denied and then acknowledged in a CNN interview last week that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden.

Maguire on Thursday declined to comment on Giuliani’s role in the controversy multiple times, referring those questions to the White House.

“In order to be able to handle sensitive information, whether it be diplomatic or intelligence, one must be vetted,” he did say when asked about the importance of security clearances.