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Barr did not answer a question from ABC News about whether he had contemplated recusing himself from any matters related to Giuliani or Ukraine.

In President Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that ultimately resulted in his impeachment by the House of Representatives, Trump referenced Barr multiple times in connection with Giuliani and his hopes they would assist in investigations that could benefit him politically.

Throughout the impeachment process, though, Barr sought to keep his distance from the Ukraine matter -- telling associates he was \"troubled\" by how the president spoke about him on the Zelenskiy call. Barr also, according to sources, advised the president directly that he didn't believe Giuliani was serving him well as his personal attorney.

\"PHOTO:
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
PHOTO: Rudy Giuliani arrives with his associate Lev Parnas before a state funeral service for former President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.
>

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating Giuliani and his connections to two Soviet-born associates, Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, who were indicted last year on campaign finance charges and their efforts to oust the former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.

In a recording first obtained last month by ABC News, Trump was captured on tape in April 2018 at a gathering with Parnas and Fruman telling the group he would remove Yovanovitch, though she was not recalled from her position until a year after the dinner.

Last week, on the same day as the president's acquittal by the Senate, Barr issued a memo instructing federal law enforcement across the country to first get approval from the top echelons of the Justice Department -- including Barr himself -- before opening any investigations of declared 2020 presidential candidates.

\"We must investigate and prosecute those matters with sensitivity and care to ensure that the department's actions do not unnecessarily advantage or disadvantage any candidate or political party,\" Barr said in the memo.

The memo followed a damning report from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz that uncovered multiple material omissions and instances of misconduct by agents in their surveillance applications targeting former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

While Horowitz determined that the opening of the investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016 was launched with proper cause, Barr split from that determination and said he is still investigating other matters outside of Horowitz's authorities.

Barr's memo has raised alarm bells among Democrats who have pointed to his past praise of President Trump, and argued he could use the directive to protect Trump from any scrutiny by investigators or selectively authorize investigations of his Democratic rivals in 2020.

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