12/5/2019

DEMS/IMPEACHMENT/RUDY GIULIANI/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Trump administration officials, seeking to weaken Democrats’ case for impeachment, disputed on Thursday [12-5-19] some of the details in the House Intelligence Committee’s report about calls between President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani and White House aides. As part of its portrait of Mr. Trump’s campaign of pressure on Ukraine, the committee’s report released this week listed several calls between Mr. Giuliani and White House phone numbers, including one ‘associated with’ the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, cited in the report simply as ‘O.M.B. number.’ Such calls suggested contact between Mr. Giuliani and key officials at significant moments during Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. The budget office was involved in the administration’s freeze on $391 million in security aid for Ukraine, a key lever in the president’s pressure campaign.”

Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos, “Trump Officials Dispute Some Giuliani Call Logs in Bid to Weaken Democrats’ Case,” The New York Times online, December 5, 2019