Trump publicly denied sending Giuliani to Ukraine to hunt for Biden dirt, a sign he could be about to throw him under the bus

REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani pictured campaigning together in 2016.

• President Donald Trump in an interview Tuesday said he didn't instruct his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to travel to Ukraine to gather damaging information about Joe Biden. 
• "No," Trump said, when asked by Bill O'Reilly if Giuliani went to Ukraine on his behalf. 
• Several key witnesses in the impeachment probe have testified that Trump directed them to work with Giuliani on his mission to get Ukraine to announce an investigation of Biden.
• This suggests that Trump in fact did know about and approve of Giuliani's activities. 
• Giuliani has in interviews claimed that he has "insurance" should the president abandon him as the impeachment inquiry moves closer to the heart of the White House.
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President Donald Trump distanced himself from his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, in an interview with radio host Bill O'Reilly Tuesday night when asked about Giuliani's activities in Ukraine.

Trump claimed that he didn't instruct the former New York mayor to travel to Ukraine in a search for damaging information on Trump's political rival Joe Biden. 

The exchange will likely further inflame suspicions that Trump and his allies are considering blaming Giuliani as a rogue actor for his actions in Ukraine, which have proved pivotal to impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Here's the full exchange of the conversation between Trump and O'Reilly, that was streamed on the former Fox News host's internet show. 

O'Reilly: "What was Rudy Giuliani doing in Ukraine on your behalf?"

Trump: "Well you have to ask that to Rudy. But Rudy ... I don't even know if ... I know he was going to go to Ukraine and I think he cancelled a trip. You know, Rudy has other clients, other than me … He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years." 

O'Reilly:  "You didn't direct him to go there on your behalf?"

Trump: "No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior." 

In a statement to Bloomberg issued by his attorney, Robert Costello, Giuliani said the president's claim that Giuliani did not travel to Ukraine on his behalf was true. 

"President is correct," Giuliani said. "Giuliani never went to Ukraine for any probe. The information he received was given to him in US by Ukrainians while Mueller probe was still ongoing and before Biden was even announced."

But Trump in the interview struck a different tone to the adamant defense of his attorney he had issued in recent weeks. 

In recent weeks, some GOP lawmakers have portrayed Giuliani as a rogue agent, acting alone when he travelled to meet former Ukrainian officials pushing unsubstantiated accusations about Biden.

It comes amid a House impeachment probe into the president's dealings with Ukraine, in which Democrats claim the president committed an impeachable abuse of power in seeking a Biden probe from Ukraine.

Giuliani has responded with thinly veiled warnings to the president. 

"I see things like, 'he's going to throw me under the bus.' I say he isn't, but I have insurance," Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News Saturday.

Giuliani later claimed he was being sarcastic, but it's not the first time he's made the claim. He also told the Guardian earlier in November that he had "insurance" should the president throw him under the bus. 

Reuters

Rudy Giuliani having coffee with the Soviet-born businessman Lev Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.

When asked by reporters about Giuliani's remarks Monday, before the O'Reilly interview, Trump had stuck by his personal attorney. He described him as a "great crime fighter" and "a great guy."

By Tuesday, his message had shifted. 

Should Trump choose to further distance himself from Giuliani, it may prove unconvincing, as it contradicts testimony from several key witnesses in the impeachment inquiry. 

Both Gordon Sondland - the US ambassador to the EU - and Kurt Volker - the special envoy to Ukraine - have testified that they were directed by Trump to work with Giuliani on the bid for Ukraine to announce a Biden probe.

This suggests that, far from being on a lone mission, Giuliani was acting as Trump's voice in Ukraine. 

In the July 25 phonecall with Ukraine's president Zelensky that sparked the impeachment investigation, Trump asked Zelensky to speak with Giuliani. 

"Rudy very much knows what's happening and he is a very capable guy," he said. "If you could speak to him that would be great."

Lev Parnas, a key associate of Giuliani, has told his attorney that Trump ordered him and Giuliani to push for the Ukraine investigations.

According to reports on Sunday, there may even be recorded evidence that proves that Giuliani was acting on Trump's orders, in recordings of Trump and Giuliani which Parnas handed to the House Intelligence Committee.