Giuliani: I'm Not Going to Ukraine, It's a Setup

Rudy Giuliani's trip to Ukraine is off—at least for now. President Trump's personal lawyer, who said he'd planned to head to Kyiv to push the government there on two investigations that could help his boss's chances at reelection, announced Friday night he was canceling his travel plans, telling the New York Times that he felt "set up" by Democrats. "They say I was meddling in the election—ridiculous— but that's their spin," he said. The two probes Giuliani is interested in following up on: one involving what led to Robert Mueller's Russia probe, the other involving what role presidential contender Joe Biden played in halting an investigation into a Ukrainian gas company his son Hunter worked for. Giuliani's willingness to travel to Ukraine for this purpose riled up prominent Democrats.

"We have come to a very sorry state when it is considered OK for an American politician, never mind an attorney for the president, to go and seek foreign intervention in American politics," Rep. Jerrold Nadler told reporters Friday. Giuliani is rejecting that take, but he noted on Fox News Friday night he'd decided against the trip because he's afraid it might be a trap, per CNN. "I think I'm walking into a group of people that are enemies of the president, in some cases enemies of the United States," he said. The Independent has a different angle: that Giuliani's plans in Ukraine were already falling apart. Giuliani had hoped to meet with incoming leader Volodymyr Zelensky, but it appears aides were advising Zelensky against taking that meeting, with sources telling the Independent that he would likely have sent representatives instead.