Pressure on former president
Two associates of Rudy Giuliani pressed the then-president of Ukraine in February to announce investigations into former US vice-president Joe Biden’s son and purported Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election in exchange for a state visit, and a lawyer for one of the associates says they did so because Giuliani – acting on US President Donald Trump’s behalf – asked them to.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman met with then-president Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv, said Edward MacMahon Jr, a lawyer for Parnas. He said they were working on behalf of Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who was operating on orders from Trump.
The February meeting – first reported by The Wall Street Journal – shows how Trump’s lawyer and those working for him were attempting to spur investigations that would help Trump politically months before he pressed Poroshenko’s successor in a controversial phone call to conduct such probes.
That July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky became the subject of a whistleblower complaint, and eventually led House Democrats to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump’s conduct.
Parnas and Fruman, both clients of Giuliani who aided his efforts to spur various Ukrainian investigations, were arrested last month on campaign finance charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Giuliani, who is under investigation by federal prosecutors in New York, said yesterday: ‘‘I am not going to answer any questions about a pending case.’’ He said he was still representing Trump.
At the time of the February meeting, Poroshenko was seeking re-election and wanting an official visit to Washington.
The meeting was also attended by Ukrainian general prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, MacMahon said. Lutsenko said in March he was investigating the Bidens, only to reverse course months later.
Parnas, Fruman, Giuliani and Lutsenko had held an earlier meeting in January.
■ In vivid and at times contentious testimony before House impeachment investigators, the senior White House official responsible for Ukraine described what he believed was an unambiguous effort by Trump to pressure current Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations targeting American politicians in exchange for a coveted Oval Office meeting.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman said ‘‘there was no doubt’’ about what Trump wanted when he spoke with
Zelensky by phone on July 25, according to a transcript of his October 29 deposition, released yesterday.
Vindman said Trump’s request for a ‘‘favour’’ from Zelensky was fairly interpreted as a demand.
Many of Vindman’s concerns were shared by Fiona Hill, who previously served as the top Russia policy official on the National Security Council.
Hill, whose deposition testimony also was released yesterday, testified that Giuliani, Fruman and Parnas were trying to use the powers of the presidency to further their own personal interests.