Trump administration officials, seeking to weaken Democrats’ case for impeachment, disputed on Thursday 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. 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. But the phone number is a generic White House switchboard number beginning with “395,” people familiar with the phone records said. While government directories list it as associated with the budget office, they also show the number as associated with offices in other parts of the White House, including the upper floors of the West Wing and the National Security Council.

Source: New York Times December 06, 2019 00:11 UTC