The day after the end of public hearings, Trump made a number of comments and substantiated the work of his personal lawyer Rudi Giuliani regarding Ukraine’s policy by the need to combat crime in a “corrupt country”. According to Trump, Giuliani has sufficient competence and experience in solving such political issues, and is also his close friend. During the hearing, current and former White House officials and diplomats expressed mixed feelings about Giuliani’s activities, in particular mistrust and dismay.
Further, the American leader, in a telephone interview with Fox News, called Ukraine “the third most corrupt country in the world”. Noting that he loves the Ukrainian people, Trump still criticized the state and tried to explain the reasons for the notorious delay in military assistance:
“Why should we give money to a state that is known for its corruption? This is a very corrupt country… As you know, this is the third most corrupt country in the world”, – said the US President.
Moreover, the Republican President challenged the testimony of David Holmes, a spokesman for the US embassy in Ukraine, who confirmed the fact of the telephone conversation on July 26, during which Trump put pressure on the US ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland as to conduct politically motivated investigations in Ukraine that would bring Trump an advantage in his 2020 election campaign.
At the same time, on Friday, November 22, Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton accused the White House of blocking the access to his personal Twitter account after Bolton had resigned in September. Having regained access, Bolton tweeted about the reasons for blocking his account.
Re: speaking up — since resigning as National Security Advisor, the @WhiteHouse refused to return access to my personal Twitter account. Out of fear of what I may say? To those who speculated I went into hiding, I’m sorry to disappoint!
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) November 22, 2019
Note that access was still possible to renew, for which the former national security adviser further thanked Twitter support.
In full disclosure, the @WhiteHouse never returned access to my Twitter account. Thank you to @twitter for standing by their community standards and rightfully returning control of my account.
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) November 22, 2019
Bolton is among various U.S. officials concerned about the activities of Giuliani, prompting Ukraine to conduct two investigations that could harm Trump’s political opponents. According to Fiona Hill, the former White House expert in Russia, Bolton spoke of Giuliani as “a hand grenade that would blow everyone up”.
Taking into account Trump’s recent attacks on key witnesses in the President’s impeachment case, as well as the White House’s blocking of Bolton’s official Twitter account and the US’s duality with its alleged allies, it’s logical to assume that the President still has something to hide, which is proved by the policy of the American leader in “the best defense is an attack” style.