The White House’s alleged effort to pressure Ukraine so alarmed former US national security adviser John Bolton that he alerted a lawyer, his former aide said on Monday, US media reported.
Bolton also said that US President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who has emerged as the point man in the US president’s alleged drive to pressure Ukraine to dig up dirt on former US vice president Joe Biden, is “a hand grenade who’s going to blow everyone up,” his aide Fiona Hill told lawmakers, according to the New York Times.
The remark, which was also reported by NBC News, came after Trump’s former top Russia adviser Hill sat for an hours-long closed door deposition before US lawmakers probing whether to impeach the US president.
Agence France-Presse could not independently verify the report.
Following a “sharp exchange” with US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, who was working with Giuliani on the pressure campaign, Bolton instructed Hill to notify a US National Security Council lawyer, the Times reported.
Referring to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Bolton also said that “I am not part of whatever drug deal Rudy and Mulvaney are cooking up,” the Times reported, citing two sources familiar with Hill’s deposition.
Her testimony came after allegations that Trump pushed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens in a July 25 telephone call, which sparked an impeachment inquiry by the US House of Representatives.
The White House’s call memo shows Trump sought a “favor” from Zelensky.
Democrats who control the chamber said it was a demand to investigate Biden — Trump’s potential rival in next year’s presidential election — and a Ukrainian firm that hired Biden’s son Hunter.
Giuliani on Monday evening said that “I don’t know Fiona and can’t figure out what she is talking about,” and that the US Department of State arranged all his contacts with Ukraine, the Washington Post reported.
The Times last week reported that Giuliani was under federal investigation for his dealings with Kiev on Trump’s behalf.
Trump last month fired Bolton, who is known for his hardline stances on Washington’s archenemies, particularly Iran, North Korea and Venezuela.
Hill left the Trump administration shortly before the July call with Zelensky.
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