Reuters, Washington :
US president Donald Trump on Friday accused a witness in the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry of lying and offered an explanation for his controversial use of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Ukraine policy, saying Giuliani’s crime-fighting abilities were needed to deal with a corrupt country.
Trump made his remarks the day after the fifth and final scheduled day of public hearings in the US House of Representatives inquiry, which threatens his presidency even as he seeks re-election in November 2020.
The Republican president took issue with testimony on Thursday by David Holmes, a US embassy official in Ukraine. Holmes said under oath that at a Kiev restaurant he overheard a 26 July cell phone conversation in which Trump loudly pressed Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, for details on whether Ukraine would carry out politically motivated investigations the president was seeking.
“I guarantee you that never took place,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” program.
“That was a total phony deal,” he added.
Trump appointed Sondland to the envoy post after the wealthy Oregon hotelier donated $1 million to his inaugural committee. While Sondland in testimony described an easygoing relationship between the two, Trump said on Friday he had spoken with him “a few times,” adding, “I hardly know him, OK?”
