Tag: Rudy Giuliani

Details Of A Fateful Call Between Rudy Giuliani And The Ukrainians Have Been Secret For Years. Here’s The Full Transcript.

The call, which happened three days before Trump’s infamous call with Volodymyr Zelensky, gained renewed relevance after federal authorities raided Giuliani’s home and offices this week.

The infamous call in which former president Donald Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do him a “favor” and investigate Hunter Biden and the origins of the Russia probe took place on July 25, 2019, and eventually led to the former president’s first impeachment. But the pressure campaign against the Ukrainians started just three days earlier, when Rudy Giuliani, then the president’s personal lawyer, was on a call with a top Zelensky aide asking him to tell the Ukrainian leader to “just let these investigations go forward.”

The call between Giuliani and Andriy Yermak, then Zelensky’s top foreign policy advisor and currently his chief of staff, happened on July 22, 2019. Details of the Giuliani–Yermak call were first reported by Time in February. But today, BuzzFeed News is publishing the transcript for the first time.

The call has gained new relevance since federal authorities searched Giuliani’s New York City apartment and office and seized his electronic devices early Wednesday morning, which was first reported by the New York Times. According to the Times and other reports, the FBI’s investigation into the former New York City mayor centers on his business activities in Ukraine and ties to its powerful oligarchs. Continue reading.

FBI warned Giuliani, key Trump ally in Senate of Russian disinformation campaign targeting Biden

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The FBI warned Rudolph W. Giuliani in late 2019 that he was the target of a Russian influence operation aimed at circulating falsehoods intended to damage President Biden politically ahead of last year’s election, according to people familiar with the matter.

The warning was part of an extensive effort by the bureau to alert members of Congress and at least one conservative media outlet, One America News, that they faced a risk of being used to further Russia’s attempt to influence the election’s outcome, said several current and former U.S. officials. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains highly sensitive.

Giuliani received the FBI’s warning while deeply involved with former president Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign and related activities in Ukraine to surface unflattering or incriminating information about the Biden family. The revelation comes as the FBI this week seized Giuliani’s cellphone and other electronic devices as part of a long-running criminal investigation into whether the onetime New York mayor and personal attorney for Trump acted as an unregistered foreign agent. Continue reading.

A timeline of Giuliani’s dubious interactions with the Trump administration

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It’s unusual for one of the most scandal-adjacent members of a presidential team to be someone who doesn’t actually serve in government, but former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has always exceeded expectations. From his initial advocacy of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2016 through the present, he’s been one of Trump’s most fervent allies and defenders — and has been entangled in most of the more serious allegations the former president has faced.

On Wednesday, federal agents advanced a long-standing investigation into how Giuliani might have leveraged his access to Trump for his personal benefit by executing search warrants on his home and office. Given that development, we decided to go back and review the various points at which Giuliani’s questionable behavior intersected with either with his private interests or Trump’s public, political ones.

Even given our familiarity with the subject matter, the scale is remarkable. Key individuals are identified in yellow. Continue reading.

‘No pushback’: Expert explains why Rudy Giuliani is in such grave legal danger

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On CNN Wednesday, former federal prosecutor Laura Coates broke down the significance of former President Donald Trump’s legal adviser Rudy Giuliani being raided.

“Remember what it reminds the American people of. Remember this investigation,” said Coates. “It was the essence of the first impeachment trial, the first impeachment trial of President Trump, so it has a clear demarcation between these two different administrations. And it also talks about transparency because remember, Giuliani is being investigated in part, we’re understanding, based on his failure to register as a foreign agent on behalf of another nation. The ideas of loyalty. The ideas of to whom you serve and whether or not you’re going to be transparent and about serving these two sort of masters, is very part and parcel to everything we’re talking about.”

“Make no mistake about it, you don’t get a warrant against Rudy Giuliani without Merrick Garland being aware and running up the chain in anticipation of the political optics, and yet, and still, you didn’t have any pushback in the form of shutting it down,” added Coates. Continue reading.

Federal investigators search Giuliani apartment

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Federal prosecutors executed a search warrant Wednesday at the apartment of Rudy Giuliani, advancing an investigation into former President Trump’s personal lawyer and his dealings with Ukraine.

Authorities seized Giuliani’s electronic devices during early morning searches at both his home and law office, a significant development in the long-running investigation into whether the former New York mayor illegally lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian oligarchs.

Those same officials were aiding Giuliani in his search for dirt on Trump’s political rivals, including then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Continue reading.

‘Borat’ Producer Says Giuliani Tried To Have Crew Arrested – Producers Guild Panel

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Monica Levinson, producer of Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, said the film’s infamous Rudy Giuliani scene was even more harrowing for the filmmakers after the former mayor left the hotel room.

The film features a scene in which Giuliani goes to the hotel bedroom with Maria Bakalova after an interview, appearing to expect sexual relations. Giuliani has denied that’s what he was doing.

“He claimed we were trying to extort him at the time, which we didn’t ask for anything,” Levinson said at a Producers Guild of America panel on Saturday. “He called all of his New York City cops and said extortion, which was a federal crime. Very smart to bring that up.” Continue reading.

Rudy Giuliani’s legal woes just got worse as US Attorney ramps up investigation into his overseas dealings: report

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Already buffeted by a massive $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over his claims that the company helped Joe Biden steal the 2020 presidential election, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has new legal problems as the US Attorney’s office for the South District of New York is re-upping an investigation into his foreign dealings.

According to a report from Yahoo News, the investigation into Giuliani’s Ukraine work for Donald Trump in an attempt to dig up dirt on now-President Joe Biden had been sitting dormant but now is being re-activated.

At issue is whether Giuliani, in his capacity working for the ex-president, registered as a foreign agent. Continue reading.

Judge frees men imprisoned for 24 years, saying prosecutors withheld evidence

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NEW YORK — Three men convicted of murdering an off-duty police officer and a business owner nearly 25 years ago were released from prison Friday after a judge declared they were wrongfully convicted because evidence that may have exonerated them was “deliberately withheld” from their lawyers.

The arrests in 1996 of George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson were heralded by then-New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who had vowed days before their apprehension that justice would be served swiftly, lawyers for the men say. But on Friday, Queens County Supreme Court Judge Joseph Zayas said the prosecutors who secured their convictions had suppressed information “that others may have committed these crimes.”

Speaking via video from Green Haven Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison north of New York City, the three men thanked those who worked to earn their freedom. Continue reading.

Trump sued by Democrat over mob attack on Capitol

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Former President Trump, his eldest son and several of his allies were sued on Friday by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) over their role in the run-up to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.

The 65-page complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani of inciting the riot and violating a number of federal and D.C. laws.

Each defendant was among the speakers at a pro-Trump rally that immediately preceded the deadly Capitol breach. The lawsuit depicts the incendiary rally speeches as a tipping point that culminated a months-long disinformation campaign to push the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. Continue reading.

Dominion Voting tells Facebook, Parler and other social media sites to preserve posts for lawsuits

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SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems have asked Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Parler to preserve posts about the company, even if the material was already removed for spreading misinformation.

The posts need to be kept “because they are relevant to Dominion’s defamation claims relating to false accusations that Dominion rigged the 2020 election,” according to the demand letters from Dominion’s law firm Clare Locke. Dominion sued Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion each in January, alleging that the lawyers defamed Dominion by saying the machines were used to steal the election from President Donald Trump.

Dominion asked each company to keep posts from slightly differing lists of people. Those included right-wing pundit Dan Bongino, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Powell. It also included news organizations Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax and — in Twitter’s case — Trump. Continue reading.