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.