Since the Trump 2016 presidential campaign got away with colluding with a foreign government, the Trump 2020 campaign is far less likely to keep those kinds of activities secret. After Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was forced to gather an opposition research trip to Ukraine because of the optics, he opted to hold that exact same planned meeting in New York instead and isn’t doing much to hide it.
Giuliani held a close door meet with Rabbi Asman today to discuss the situation in Ukraine. He invited Asman to Paris after canceling his trip to Ukraine pic.twitter.com/hyoKK37b6J
— Olga Lautman (@olgaNYC1211) May 21, 2019
The meeting is purportedly about policy and diplomacy between Ukraine and the United States, although why Giuliani would be sent as a representative for that purpose is unclear. In truth, the meeting is about disparaging information that the Ukrainian official, Andrii Telizhenko, said that he had on leading Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden.
The Washington Post reports:
‘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.’
The investigation of DNC-Clinton campaign collusion with Ukraine is expanding. On Friday the Ukrainian official who gave falsified evidence to Dems was charged with a bribe from a RUSSIAN oligarch. Imagine if this were Trump campaign? Is @realDonaldTrump correct about them?
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) May 20, 2019
Telizhenko has also stated publicly that he has information proving that the Democratic National Committee worked with Ukraine to get opposition research intel on Donald Trump in 2016, although no such evidence has yet been made public. The idea is clearly to show that the Trump campaign did nothing different than the DNC did in 2016, although the fact that the Trump campaign knew Russia was gaining that information illegally makes the two situations quite different.
Giuliani told reporters that he would not answer questions about that meeting.
‘“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.
‘Giuliani declined to say what the two men discussed. “I can’t tell you a thing about the meeting,” he said. “When I have something to say, I’ll say it.”’
Giuliani had a lengthy meeting last week with a former Ukrainian diplomat who alleges improper contact between the DNC & Ukrainian government
Notably, Giuliani's last conspiracy claim involving Biden was denounced as false by the current Ukrainian gov'thttps://t.co/aCimHvLmUX
— Adrienne Cobb (@ImagineWorldas1) May 25, 2019
Giuliani’s involvement and the role he plays in the Trump administration is raising suspicions, as well. Giuliani is not an official member of the administration, has no real title or official role, and has never been confirmed by the Senate. Yet somehow, he’s being allowed to discuss foreign policy with Ukrainians and is conducting meetings. Giuliani insists that he’s serving Trump in a “personal” and not an “official” capacity.
‘Giuliani’s Ukraine-related activities have sparked concerns both in Kiev and in the State Department that he is improperly blurring the lines between his role as the president’s lawyer and the U.S. government. Giuliani says he has informed Ukrainian officials in writing that he is representing only the president in a personal capacity, and not the administration.’
Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in an interview that he had absolutely NO evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe Biden or his son, Hunter. This is despite a swirl of false allegations by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.https://t.co/JwmLQUFGzC via @bpolitics
— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) May 16, 2019
Featured image screenshot via YouTube