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(CNN) - For the past three years, Rudy Giuliani seemed to travel the world with impunity as a kind of unprofessional ambassador to President Donald Trump, putting aside the concerns of US national security advisers and diplomats. UU. while he was following the president’s orders.
But new reports suggest that the man once acclaimed as the "mayor of the United States" was simultaneously pursuing his own fortune, and his apparent self-contracting is now under such intense scrutiny that even the president seeks to distance himself from his personal lawyer.
Wednesday was a terrible day for the former mayor of New York when scrutiny about him intensified with new reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post about his business.
The reports expose the portrait of a man who took advantage of his close relationship with the president while exploring lucrative agreements in Ukraine that would improve the influence of his firm, Giuliani Partners, and his personal wealth.
The unflattering revelations come at a time when lawmakers are investigating the motives behind Giuliani's efforts to expel the former Ukrainian ambassador Marie Yovanovitch - either at the behest of Trump or Ukrainian officials who wanted her out. CNN also reported that federal prosecutors are examining Giuliani's trade agreements as part of a broader investigation of its business partners in an investigation that could include criminal charges ranging from conspiracy, obstruction of justice, campaign financing violations and money laundering. money.
Giuliani's ties
Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating the ties of Giuliani and his associates with the state oil and gas company of Ukraine. And on Wednesday, KFile of CNN reported that Giuliani has given inconsistent answers about his connections with a Ukrainian oligarch with whom he previously said he "had nothing to do with it."
The tight legal steamroller around Giuliani apparently led Trump to tell conservative radio host Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday night that he had no idea what the former New York mayor was really doing in Ukraine, as that behavior continues being subject to hot scrutiny in the investigation for the political trial in the House of Representatives.
In a pattern that recalls the way Trump dealt with his previous personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who is currently serving a three-year prison sentence, the president suggested he was not aware of Giuliani's agenda in Ukraine, despite weeks of testimony in the process of political trial in which he stated otherwise.
When O'Reilly repeatedly asked him on Tuesday if he ordered Giuliani to go to Ukraine or put pressure on that country, Trump said: “No.
"No, I didn't order it, but he's a warrior, Rudy is a warrior," Trump added. “Rudy went. Possibly saw something. But you have to understand, Rudy (has) other people he represents. ” He also noted that Giuliani had implications in Ukraine for many years.
Some credulity is required to think that Giuliani would have a more important client than the president, but Trump's words directly contradict what he said to the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in his July 25 phone call. According to the approximate transcript of that call, Trump told the new president: "I will make Mr. Giuliani call him" and that "Rudy knows very well what is happening."
It also conflicts with the testimony of Gordon Sondland, Trump's ambassador to the European Union, who declared that Giuliani was essentially the starting point for Trump in Ukrainian affairs - trying to organize a quid pro quo from a House meeting. White for the new president of Ukraine in exchange for his help investigating interference in the 2016 elections, as well as former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden, who was part of the board of a Ukrainian energy company known as Burisma . There is no evidence of irregularities by Joe or Hunter Biden.
"Secretary Perry, Ambassador Volker and I work with Mr. Rudy Giuliani on Ukrainian affairs under the express direction of the President of the United States," said Sondland. “We did not want to work with Mr. Giuliani. Simply put, we were playing the hand that touched us. We all understood that if we refused to work with Mr. Giuliani, we would miss a very important opportunity to consolidate relations between the United States and Ukraine. So we follow the president’s orders. ”
Another layer of disorder
The news that Giuliani was negotiating personal financial agreements with the same people he was looking for information added another layer of disorder to the shadow diplomacy operation he was carrying out.
The Washington Post and The New York Times reported this week that Giuliani sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in business with officials in Ukraine while using his connections there to discover harmful information about the Biden.
While the agreements were not finalized, the revelations are important because, first, they undermine Giuliani's repeated claim that he has no business in Ukraine, and secondly, they suggest that Giuliani took advantage of potential clients in Ukraine who were desperate for strengthening ties with the United States and its main client, the president of the United States.
The New York Times document review showed that Giuliani reached a compromise with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, which would have meant $ 300,000 to his company for his help in finding stolen money.
A draft of the proposal reviewed by the Times explained more specifically that Giuliani would have represented Yuriy Lutsenko, the former senior prosecutor of Ukraine. The newspaper said the draft unsigned proposal described an agreement in which Lutsenko would have paid at least US $ 200,000 to retain the signature of Giuliani and the legal team formed by Joseph E. diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who are husband and wife and that they are also linked to Trump. (The House of Representatives political trial investigation has established that Giuliani worked closely with Lutsenko to try to advance an investigation into the Biden and the 2016 elections).
Giuliani has said he does not charge the president for his legal services. And the former mayor of New York defended himself on Twitter on Wednesday night calling The New York Times "#FAKENEWS."
“I DID NOT look for a business opportunity in Ukraine, as they misrepresented. I could have helped them recover $ 7 billion in stolen money, but I didn't. They paid me zero, ”Giuliani tweeted.
An hour later, he tweeted: "NYT and WAPO try to destroy my credibility because I know their lies to cover up Biden."
Trump is famous for his transactions, casually disregarding his lifelong friends, like Cohen, who went from being a "good person with a wonderful family" esteemed by Trump to a liar and "a rat."
Giuliani played a key role in Trump's demolition of Cohen, appearing on multiple channels to portray Cohen, whom he had once praised, as "an incredible liar" and a "garbage."
As his legal problems increase, Giuliani has insisted that he still has the president's confidence, even though the two seem to be talking to each other through media interviews.
During an appearance on Fox last week, Giuliani rejected the idea that the president would throw him under the bus: "I have insurance," he said mysteriously.
Giuliani later claimed that he was joking, but the president thought it was a warning that he is trained in Trump's jujitsu on Twitter, and that he will not fall like Cohen without fighting.
Rudy Giuliani