WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday that he would invite Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, to testify before his committee about corruption in Ukraine.
Graham said on Twitter that he would extend the invite after hearing “disturbing allegations” about corruption in Ukraine and “the many improprieties surrounding the firing of former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin."
He suggested that the hearing would be an attempt to rebut the narrative emerging from the impeachment inquiry being conducted by House Democrats.
“Therefore I will offer to Mr. Giuliani the opportunity to come before the Senate Judiciary Committee to inform the committee of his concerns,” he said.
“Unlike the House of Representatives, I’m tired of only hearing one side of the story. It’s now time to give voice to everything Ukraine. Let the chips fall where they may!” he added in a tweet soon after.
A spokesman for Graham said it had not yet been determined whether Giuliani would appear in a closed or open session, or exactly when he might offer testimony.
When asked if he would testify, Giuliani signaled that he was not willing to cooperate with Congress without a fight. “Everything they are asking for falls within the attorney client and work product privileges,” he told NBC News in a series of text messages, adding that “if they hold me in contempt, they are in contempt of the right to counsel. The answer is to get a judge to rule on a subpoena.”
Still, he said that he hadn't made his mind up yet, signaling that he had not ruled it out.
Giuliani is one of the central figures at the center of the current impeachment inquiry. The whistleblower complaint and evidence provided to Congress over the last week has suggested that Giuliani was a driving force in the effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., a 2020 presidential contender and former prosecutor who sits on the Judiciary Committee, tweeted Tuesday that she supported the idea of bringing Giuliani in to face lawmakers.
“Good. I have questions,” she said.
