Graham tells Giuliani ‘I hope you know what you’re talking about’ ahead of Ukraine senate hearing

‘I like Rudy a lot, but we’re going to have to watch what we say,’ Graham says

Lindsey Graham has said he will invite Rudy Giuliani to testify to his Senate committee about his recent fact finding mission in Ukraine – while urging the president’s lawyer to ensure he ‘knows what he’s talking about’ before making grand claims before congress.

Mr Giuliani’s decision to return to Ukraine at the start of the month – while his and Donald Trump’s dealings in the country were central to the impeachment inquiry – drew condemnation from Democratic rivals and Republican allies alike.

Now with the former New York mayor back in the US and his president freshly impeached, Mr Giuliani is due to discuss his allegations of corruption with the senate’s judiciary committee at the request of Mr Graham.

Pre-empted the testimony, Mr Graham warned that his statements would be “tested” in an apparent reference the increasingly peculiar and conspiratorial nature of Mr Giuliani’s cable news appearances.

“I don’t know what Rudy’s got, but I’m going to send him a letter” Mr Graham told CNN on Wednesday. “If you’re going to go on national television and tell the country that you’ve found evidence of a cover-up, then I hope you know what you’re talking about.

He added that Mr Giuliani was not compelled to attend the hearing.

“I like Rudy a lot” he added “but we’re going to have to watch what we say. If he comes, you gotta be willing to ask questions about your conduct.

“It’s just not good for the country to make these accusations on cable television without them being tested.”

Mr Giuliani, who was accused in impeachment proceedings of running a shadow-foreign policy operation in Ukraine, claims to have gathered evidence of a conspiracy to cover up his and President Trump’s efforts to fight corruption in the country.

However his claims have until this point remained unsubstantiated.

At the time of Mr Giuliani’s visit Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman and avid supporter of the president, said the trip was “deeply weird”; while Trump donor Dan Eberhart said it was “brazen on a galactic level” and like a “murder suspect returning to the crime scene to live-stream themselves moon-dancing”.