that he traveled to ukraine to tell the country's new president that u.s. military aid would be withheld if investigations into trump's political rivals were not opened. and it was all at giuliani's direction. the times reports parnas told a representative of the incoming government that it had to announce an investigation into mr. trump's political rival, joseph r. biden jr. and his son or else vice president mike pence would not attend the swearing in of the new president and the united states would freeze aid, the lawyer said. the other giuliani associate, who was arrested on the same charges, igor fruman, said parnas's claim was false. giuliani's chimed in. he responded quote, categorically, i did not tell him to say that. now, all this comes as republicans reportedly are ramping up their defenses for the president. including claims that it was trump's associates who were acting on their own. not on behalf of the president. "the washington post" rights quote, amid the torent of testimony, it's easy to forget the crux of the historic house