US President Donald Trump has stood up for his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Twitter in a bid to defend him from a "one sided Witch Hunt" that, as POTUS claims, was organised by the "deep state" against him. While admitting that Giuliani has downsides, Trump stressed that the lawyer was the "greatest mayor" of New York, specifically underscoring his achievements in combatting crime.
Giuliani has recently come under a lot of scrutiny. In September, he gained attention for being mentioned in a published transcript of a telephone talk between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. The transcript of the conversation was published following allegations made by a CIA officer-turned-whistleblower, who claimed that Trump may have abused his power in order to "pressure" Zelensky into starting an investigation into Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden.
According to the whistleblower, Trump asked Zelensky to cooperate with Giuliani and US Attorney General William Barr in the investigation. The transcript showed no signs of "pressure", however, although Trump indeed expressed interest in Zelensky looking into allegations of Biden pressuring the previous Ukrainian administration into shutting down an investigation into his son, Hunter.
According to The New York Times, citing anonymous sources, Giuliani is also facing an investigation over potentially breaking lobbying laws by undermining then-American Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Giuliani has denied being involved in any wrongdoing, although he admitted collecting potentially damaging information on Yovanovitch, as well as on former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son.