MSNBC Legal Analyst: ‘What Possible Private Business Could Donald Trump Have with the President of Ukraine?’

MSNBC Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos appeared incredulous at a letter from Rudy Giuliani to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer sent the letter seeking a meeting with Zelensky and its’ contents have just been revealed.

Cevallos mocked Giuliani’s claim to be acting for Trump in a personal capacity.

“Dear president of Sparta, I represent a toga-wearing private citizen who just happens to be the emperor of Rome. Could I get a meeting?” Cevallos joked.

“There are so many things wrong with this letter and you just mentioned one, too, that Rudy Giuliani is saying that this is — that this is exculpatory evidence as a defense counsel,” Cevallos said. “Who’s saying anyone’s indicted the president? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? I mean, that alone is a really strange response. That’s something a criminal defense attorney, like me, would say, that I’m seeking exculpatory evidence.”

“But then going back to the letter, you know, I made that — that Roman emperor joke but that’s almost exactly what Rudy Giuliani is saying. And the mere fact that he takes such pains to say that I’m acting as private counsel shows that he’s aware that if he was writing on behalf of the President as an official request, that it would be wrong.”

“So even if he is representing the President as a private individual, what possible private business could Donald Trump have with the president of Ukraine? Could it be that opposition research? Well, that doesn’t work because that’s the exact same thing that Trump requested in his official capacity. This letter is a real problem for Giuliani. And it’s a real problem for Trump because it connects dots that were, before, somewhat connected but now they’re really connected.”