- [P]art of a monthslong effort by the former New York mayor and a small group of Trump allies working to build interest in the Ukrainian inquiries. Their motivation is to…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.165
Mr. Giuliani claimed, “We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do.”166
Only a few days after Director Wray’s public comments about foreign interference in U.S. elections, Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that “[s]omebody could say it’s improper” to pressure Ukraine to open investigations that would benefit President Trump. But, Mr. Giuliani argued:
- [T]his isn’t foreign policy—I’m asking them to do an investigation that they’re doing already, and that other people are telling them to stop. And I’m going to give them reasons why they shouldn’t stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.167
Mr. Giuliani’s “client” was President Trump, as Mr. Giuliani repeatedly stated publicly. According to Mr. Giuliani, the President fully supported putting pressure on Ukraine to open investigations that would benefit his 2020 reelection campaign.168 Mr. Giuliani emphasized that President Trump “basically knows what I’m doing, sure, as his lawyer.”169 Underscoring his commitment to pressuring Ukraine until it opened the investigations President Trump promoted on Fox News, Mr. Giuliani told The Washington Post that he would “make sure that nothing scuttles the investigation that I want.”170
On May 9, following public revelation of his trip by the New York Times, Mr. Giuliani connected in quick succession with Mr. Solomon and then Mr. Parnas for several minutes at a time.171 Mr. Giuliani then made brief connections with the White House Switchboard and Situation Room several times, before connecting at 1:43 p.m. Eastern Time with someone at the White House for over four minutes.172 He connected, separately, thereafter with Mr. Parnas several times in the afternoon and into the evening.173
- That evening, Mr. Giuliani tweeted:
- If you doubt there is media bias and corruption then when Democrats conspiring with Ukrainian officials comes out remember much of the press, except for Fox, the Hill, and NYT, has suppressed it. If it involved @realDonaldTrump or his son it would have been front page news for weeks.174
Shortly thereafter, on the night of May 9, he made an appearance on Fox News and reiterated that his trip to Ukraine was intended to further the President’s personal and political interests by pressuring the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens:
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