President Donald Trump was “out of bounds” when pushing Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden last July, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.
"The call is murky, it is really murky,” Rice said at a conference in Abu Dhabi, in reference to the July 25 phone call Trump had with Ukraine’s president, according to CNN. “I don't like for the President of the United States to mention an American citizen for investigation to a foreign leader. I think that is out of bounds.”
Public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into the July 25 call are set to begin this week. Several current and former officials already have testified that Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has been a central figure in pushing Ukraine to investigate, working separately from official U.S. diplomatic channels.
"What I see right now troubles me. I see a state of conflict between the foreign policy professionals and someone in Rudy Giuliani who says he was acting on behalf of the President," Rice added. "But frankly, I don't even know the degree to which that's case. It's troubling. It's deeply troubling."
She said later, "the world shouldn't get confusing messages from the United States of America."
Although Rice criticized Trump during the 2016 election, saying he should drop out after the “Access Hollywood” tape leaked, CNN notes that she has mostly remained silent since his election, and that these comments are an uncommon public rebuke of the president.
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