Rudy Giuliani told The New York Times on Monday that he spoke with President Trump "a couple of times" about former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and how he believed she was standing in the way of investigations that could politically benefit Trump.

Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, said he told the president that Yovanovitch was blocking visas for Ukrainian prosecutors who wanted to come to the United States and share evidence with him that he alleged could be damaging to former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Giuliani said Trump connected him with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who asked Giuliani to send him more details. Just a few weeks later, at the end of May, Yovanovitch was recalled from her post.

Giuliani told the Times he thinks the information he shared likely convinced Trump and Pompeo to have Yovanovitch removed, adding: "If I was attorney general, I would have kicked her out. I mean, secretary of state." On Monday night, Giuliani told Fox News host Laura Ingraham he "forced her out" because of alleged "corruption." In an interview with The New Yorker published earlier Monday, Giuliani said he needed Yovanovitch "out of the way" because she was "going to make the investigations difficult for everybody."

During the impeachment inquiry, several witnesses — including Yovanovitch — told the House Intelligence Committee that Giuliani was behind a smear campaign against the former ambassador, a career diplomat. On Wednesday, the House is expected to vote on whether to impeach Trump, who has been accused of abusing the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine to help his re-election chances by investigating Democratic rivals and obstruction of Congress. Catherine Garcia