Giuliani Hires New Lawyers For Trump Impeachment Probe Over Ukraine

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th November, 2019) President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani announced a new legal team to defend his role in asking Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden - a mission that places Giuliani at the center of a House of Representatives effort to impeach Trump.

"I am represented and assisted by Robert Costello and the Pierce Bainbridge firm in particular, Eric Creizman and Melissa Madrigal," Giuliani said in a series of Twitter messages on Wednesday.

Giuliani also defended his role investigating Ukrainian corruption as work done as a personal lawyer to protect Trump against "false charges."

"The evidence, when revealed fully, will show that this present farce is as much a frame-up and hoax as Russian collusion, maybe worse, and will prove the President is innocent," Giuliani said of the House impeachment probe. "The investigation I conducted concerning 2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption was done solely as a defense attorney to defend my client against false charges."

House Democrats charge that Trump withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine in pressing the nation to investigate Biden's role in halting an investigation of a Ukrainian energy firm that employed Biden's son, Hunter.

Transcripts of closed door testimony released by House investigators this week depict several current and former administration officials describing Giuliani as a back channel running US policy with Ukraine's recently elected President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Earlier on Wednesday, the House announced that the first public hearings on the impeachment probe will begin next week.