President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says in a new interview that he isn’t worried about the prospect of the president turning on him, but joked that he has “very good insurance” in the event that he does.
Giuliani made the joke during a phone interview with The Guardian published Thursday in which he discussed his work for Trump and the latest revelations in the House’s impeachment inquiry. Asked whether he was concerned Trump would “throw him under the bus” amid the probe, Giuliani laughed and said, “I’m not.”
“But I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid,” he added.
{mosads}The Guardian noted that Robert Costello, Giuliani’s lawyer who was sitting in on the call, interjected and said, “he’s joking.”
Giuliani has emerged as a central figure in the impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The inquiry centers around a whistleblower complaint largely based on a July 25 phone call in which Trump urged the Ukrainian president to work with Giuliani in launching investigations into 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden, the former vice president, and his son, Hunter Biden, over unfounded allegations of corruption.
Multiple House committees have heard depositions from several former and current administration officials linking Giuliani to the pressure campaign with regards to Ukraine.
During the first public impeachment hearing on Wednesday, William Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, testified that Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, told a member of Taylor’s staff that Trump cared more about an investigation of the Bidens than Ukraine.
Giuliani denied having knowledge of the call, telling The Guardian that he wasn’t sure Taylor’s testimony was “solid.”
“In court we would call it hearsay, triple hearsay. It would not even be admissible. But if you are asking me flat-out had I ever heard of a conversation like that? No,” he said.
The former New York mayor also stood by his service as Trump’s attorney, saying he acted “properly” and “did what a good lawyer is supposed to do.”
“I dug up evidence that helped to show the case against him was false; that there was a great deal of collusion going on someplace else other than Russia,” he said, an apparent reference to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “And then I stepped on the number one minefield, which is Joe Biden, who is heavily protected by the Washington press corps.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Giuliani’s remarks from The Hill.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly dismissed allegations that he committed impeachable offenses in his dealing with Ukraine, with many arguing that the inquiry is an effort to reverse the results of the 2016 election.