Unless he backtracked on this, Giuliani said (on or before Sep 25) that:
"I never talked to a Ukrainian official until the State Department called and asked me to do it," Giuliani told Fox
And in slightly more detail:
"You know who I did it at the request of? The State Department," Giuliani told Ingraham on Tuesday night. "I never talked to a Ukrainian official until the State Department called and asked me to do it, and then I reported every conversation back to them."
The former mayor of New York then held up a cellphone, waved it around and claimed that his phone records would confirm that the State Department had directed him to contact Ukrainian officials.
"Here's why I was asked by the State Department — it's all documented. They called me to facilitate a meeting between the president and Mr. Zelensky — to help do that," Giuliani said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. "I met with the representative of Mr. Zelensky. We never discussed any kind of pressure about a criminal case. We never discussed any kind of quid pro quo or pressure."
Has the State Department confirmed or denied having asked Giuliani to do this? And if they have confirmed it, did give any reasons why Giuliani had to become an unofficial diplomatic channel meant to "facilitate" a meeting between the two presidents?
In the same article only a vague statement from the State Department is reproduced:
"Mr. Giuliani is a private citizen and acts in a personal capacity as a lawyer for President Trump," a State Department spokesperson told The Hill. "He does not speak on behalf of the U.S. government."
This of course is true, but it neither confirms nor (really) denies Giuliani's claim. Has the State Department said anything else on the matter subsequently?
Apparently there was no other official statement until now, but there have been some developments:
Giuliani named Kurt Volker as his main contact in the State Department on this matter
Volker, who apparently worked as a special envoy to Ukraine on "a part-time volunteer" basis, resigned
It looks like Volker is going to be interviewed by one of the committees involved in the impeachment inquiry on Oct 3
I can't find the actual statement, but only this rather weird paraphrase from Sky on what the State Department said about the latter event:
The US State Department had no immediate comment on Mr Volker's resignation, saying only that he put Mr Giuliani in touch with an aide to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.