Tag: Ukraine

Giuliani meets with former diplomat as he continues to press Ukraine inquiries

Trump lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani had a lengthy meeting last week with a former Ukrainian diplomat as part of aggressive efforts aimed at gathering information to undermine Democrats in the United States.

The Ukrainian, Andrii Telizhenko, has made unproven claims that the Democratic National Committee worked with the Kiev government in 2016 to dig up incriminating information about former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was sentenced in March to more than seven years in prison on conspiracy and fraud charges. The DNC has denied Telizhenko’s claims.

“He was in Washington and he came up to New York, and we spent most of the afternoon together,” Giuliani said in an interview, referring to his meeting with Telizhenko.

View the complete May 24 article by Josh Dawsey and David L. Stern on The Washington Post website here. 

Collusion? Giuliani Admits To Seeking Ukraine Action Against Biden

They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.

Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor turned personal lawyer to Trump, is openly admitting to colluding with Ukraine to try and help Trump’s 2020 reelection bid.

Giuliani made the brazen admission to the New York Times, telling the newspaper that he plans to seek help from Ukraine in order to, “discredit the special counsel’s investigation; undermine the case against Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s imprisoned former campaign chairman; and potentially to damage Mr. Biden, the early front-runner for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination,” theTimes reported.

View the complete May 10 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

After backlash, Giuliani cancels Ukraine trip meant to ‘meddle’ in investigations to help Trump

President Trump asked for and received help from the Russian government in his 2016 election victory. And despite all that has followed, his lawyer planned to head to neighboring Ukraine for more potential political assistance.

That was the almost impossible-to-ignore takeaway from former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s remarkable interview with the New York Times’s Kenneth P. Vogel. Giuliani was going to Ukraine to pressure the government to investigate cases that Giuliani himself admitted have bearing on Trump’s political fate. And he didn’t even really trying to disguise the purpose.

But now, after a backlash, he’s canceled the whole thing.

View the complete May 11 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.

Manafort continued Ukraine work in 2018, prosecutors say

Prosecutors allege that Paul Manafort was working on Ukrainian political matters in 2018, after his indictment in the special counsel’s investigation, and also revealed that a former business associate of his who was assessed by the FBI to have ties to Russian intelligence attended President Trump’s inaugural, according to new court filings.

The details came in a partially redacted transcript released Thursday of a sealed hearing between prosecutors and the defense team for Trump’s former campaign chairman in the ongoing legal battle over whether Manafort lied and breached his deal to cooperate in Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The transcript contained some new elements.

View the complete February 7 article by Spencer S. Hsu, Rosalind S. Helderman and Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

Paul Manafort’s Trial Starts Tuesday. Here Are the Charges and the Stakes.

The following article by Sharon LaFraniere and Emily Baumgaertner was posted on the New York Times website July 29, 2018:

Paul Manafort after his arraignment hearing in March at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Va. Credit: Al Drago, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Paul Manafort, the veteran Republican political operative and lobbyist who helped run President Trump’s 2016 campaign, is scheduled to go to trial on financial fraud charges starting on Tuesday in United States District Court in Alexandria, Va.

The main points to be aware of:

  • It is the first trial stemming from charges brought by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the campaign.

View the complete post here.

A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates

The following article by Megan Twohey and Scott Shane was posted on the Washington Post website February 19, 2017:

Michael D. Cohen, second from left, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, with Michael T. Flynn, left, and former Gov. Rick Perry of Texas at Trump Tower in December. Mr. Cohen delivered the peace plan to Mr. Flynn a week before Mr. Flynn resigned as national security adviser. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times

A week before Michael T. Flynn resigned as national security adviser, a sealed proposal was hand-delivered to his office, outlining a way for President Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.

Mr. Flynn is gone, having been caught lying about his own discussion of sanctions with the Russian ambassador. But the proposal, a peace plan for Ukraine and Russia, remains, along with those pushing it: Michael D. Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, who delivered the document; Felix H. Sater, a business associate who helped Mr. Trump scout deals in Russia; and a Ukrainian lawmaker trying to rise in a political opposition movement shaped in part by Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

At a time when Mr. Trump’s ties to Russia, and the people connected to him, are under heightened scrutiny — with investigations by American intelligence agencies, the F.B.I. and Congress — some of his associates remain willing and eager to wade into Russia-related efforts behind the scenes. Continue reading “A Back-Channel Plan for Ukraine and Russia, Courtesy of Trump Associates”