Giuliani says ‘of course’ he asked Ukraine to look into Biden seconds after denying it

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani gave conflicting answers in an interview on CNN on Thursday night as to whether he asked Ukraine to look into former Vice President Joe Biden, saying at one point “of course I did.”

After CNN host Chris Cuomo questioned whether Giuliani had asked Ukraine to investigate Biden, Giuliani said, “No, actually I didn’t. I asked the Ukraine to investigate the allegations that there was interference in the election of 2016 by the Ukrainians for the benefit of Hillary Clinton.”{mosads}

“You never asked anything about Hunter Biden? You never asked anything about Joe Biden?” Cuomo followed up. 

“The only thing I asked about Joe Biden is to get to the bottom of how it was that Lutsenko … dismissed the case against AntAC,” Giuliani said, referring to former Ukrainian prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko and the Ukrainian-based Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC).

“So you did ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden,” Cuomo said. 

“Of course I did,” Giuliani replied. 

“You just said you didn’t,” Cuomo responded.

“I didn’t ask them to look into Joe Biden,” Giuliani shot back. “I asked them to look into the allegations that related to my client which tangentially involved Joe Biden.” 

CNN’s @ChrisCuomo: “Did you ask Ukraine to look into Joe Biden?”@RudyGiuliani: “Of course I did”

President Trump’s attorney says he had spoken with a Ukrainian official about Joe Biden’s possible role in that government’s dismissal of a prosecutor who investigated Biden’s son. pic.twitter.com/hqmqtmx2VW

— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) September 20, 2019

In 2016, Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees unless Ukraine removed a top prosecutor, who was later voted out amid corruption allegations, according to The New York Times.

Biden’s younger son, Hunter Biden, was a board member of an energy company that the prosecutor had also been looking into, according to the newspaper.

Giuliani previously said last month that he had spoken to a Ukrainian official about Biden, who is the Democratic presidential front-runner, saying his conversation focused on Biden’s possible role in the prosecutor’s dismissal of the gas company investigation.

The Trump lawyer’s appearance on CNN Thursday night came amid new scrutiny over a separate whistleblower complaint regarding Trump’s discussions with a foreign leader filed by a member of the U.S. intelligence community.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the complaint involves Ukraine, though few details about the complaint have emerged.