So maybe it wasn't the best choice to send Rudy Giuliani to Ukraine. Well, let's just make sure it doesn't happen again, a group of bipartisan senators seemed to say during Thursday's Senate impeachment trial.
The second day of impeachment questioning from senators brought the first inquiry from a bipartisan group: Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Kirsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). "Will the president assure the American public that private citizens will not be directed to conduct American foreign policy or national security policy unless they have been specifically and formally designated by the president and the State Department to do so?" they asked, essentially asking that Trump's future envoys have further permission to do their jobs.
It's an obvious reference to the fact that Giuliani traveled to Ukraine to push for Trump's agenda — something Trump insists he didn't tell Giuliani to do. Trump's lawyer Patrick Philbin similarly claimed Giuliani wasn't conducting foreign policy. House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) then pointed out impeachment witness Fiona Hill called Giuliani's work a "domestic political errand," and then concluded Philbin had just confirmed Hill's assessment.
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