The U.S President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani has said he will not co-operate with an impeachment inquiry against Trump and insisted he didn’t need a lawyer following the arrest of two business associates alleged of campaign finance violations. He posted a letter on Twitter to the House permanent select committee on intelligence. He wrote, “Please accept this response as formal notice that Giuliani will not participate because this appears to be an unconstitutional, baseless and illegitimate impeachment inquiry”. The attorney to Giuliani was subpoenaed by the U.S Congress over documents related to the impeachment inquiry and said the subpoena was overbroad, unduly burdensome, and seeks documents beyond the scope of legitimate inquiry in the letter.
Giuliani posted his tweet on Tuesday afternoon. He also announced his own lawyer, Jon Sale, would no longer represent him. Giuliani described Sale who he reportedly hired just 14 days ago as a lifelong friend who represented him for the sole purpose of analyzing the request and responding. He added, “At this time, I do not need a lawyer”. Giuliani’s letter comes on the day of the deadline for him to comply with the congressional subpoena sent by three House committees spearheading the impeachment inquiry into Trump. Democrats on Capitol Hill say Giuliani was looking foreign dirt on Trump’s 2020 political rival Joe Biden in Ukraine.
It is noteworthy that the president had a 25 July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he asked for a favor and then urged Zelensky to launch an investigation into Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked for a Ukrainian energy firm. There has so far been no evidence of illegal wrongdoing by either of the Bidens. Giuliani is under increasing scrutiny among federal prosecutors over allegations of illegal lobbying in another country without registering as a foreign agent. Experts previously said that Giuliani must register as a foreign agent for his overseas work. Giuliani has denied the allegations. It remains unclear what could happen next, though Giuliani will almost certainly require legal representation if the House committees seek to enforce their subpoena against him.