Donald Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani

Donald Trump defends Rudy Giuliani, a day after distancing himself from his personal attorney over the Trump-Ukraine affair.

Trump tweeted on Saturday:

On Friday, after two of Giuliani’s associates were arrested and prosecutors launched an investigation of the former New York mayor, Trump appeared to push away his attorney, saying he was uncertain if Giuliani still represented him.

“I spoke to him yesterday quickly. He is a very good attorney and he has been my attorney,” Trump told reporters.

Giuliani said he still represented Trump.

TrumpWatch, Day 995: Trump-Ukraine — Prosecutors Investigating Giuliani

Trump and his allies have tried to deflect investigations, throughout the Presidency, by declaring that US agencies are pursuing a “Deep State Coup”.

Senior White House advisor Stephen Miller used the line two weeks ago in an attempt to hold back an impeachment inquiry, after revelations of the Trump-Giuliani campaign for Ukraine to investigate Presidential candidate Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.

“You have a group of unelected bureaucrats who think that they need to take down this President,” Miller insisted.

But where the Deep State deflection contributed to the success of the Trump camp in avoiding accountability over Trump-Russia links, the argument has struggled against the focal event of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The transcript of the conversation failed to clear Trump, despite his proclamations of a “beautiful” and “perfect” call. The formal complaint by a CIA official — the liaison with the White House over Ukraine — has been reinforced by documents and witness testimony.

On Friday, former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch defied State Department pressure and appeared before House investigators. She quoted Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan over her recall from Kiev in May, “tTe Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018.”