By

Reuters

Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, has emerged as a central figure in the Ukraine probe.

The White House last summer was riven with conflict over what national-security adviser John Bolton viewed as Rudolph Giuliani's rogue operations in Ukraine, a former Trump aide told House investigators, according to the New York Times.

Fiona Hill, a former White House adviser specializing in Russia, testified Bolton got into several confrontations over Giuliani's bid to pressure Ukraine into producing damaging information about a Democratic rival.

Hill testified Bolton once told her "Giuliani's a hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up."

Bolton also complained that Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union, and Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, were cooking up a "drug deal" in Ukraine, Hill said in the closed-door hearing, according to the report.

Hill testified for more than 10 hours in the House inquiry into Trump's pressing Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. House Democrats expect to use the results of their investigation to determine whether to vote on articles of impeachment.

Read: Ex-White House adviser tells House panel she objected to ouster of ambassador to Ukraine

Giuliani, who is Trump's personal lawyer, has acknowledged in television interviews that he asked Ukraine officials about Biden, and the White House's own rough transcript of Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Trump asking Zelensky to "look into" the activities of the Bidens in Ukraine.

Bolton was fired by Trump in September.

Read on: Hunter Biden rejects Trump claim of corruption in his work in Ukraine and China

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