Giuliani’s intervention fuels political battle in Romania
It’s unusual for a U.S. lawyer to oppose anti-corruption efforts in one of Europe’s most corrupt nations.
It’s even more unusual if that lawyer also happens to represent the U.S. president, whose own State Department has adopted the opposite stance. After Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani sent a letter to the Romanian government last week, asking it to rein in the fight against corruption over fears of “continued damage to the rule of law in Romania, committed under the pretext of law enforcement,” State Department officials appeared puzzled.
“They wanted to know, ‘Is this accurate? Is this real? We want to make sure this is genuine,’ ” Giuliani said, according to my colleagues. “Absolutely,” Giuliani said he replied.
“I’m a private citizen,” Giuliani said, responding to a question about contradicting the State Department, which has welcomed the anti-corruption drive.
The problem with this argument is that Giuliani certainly isn’t perceived in Romania as only a private U.S. citizen. In fact, the Trump lawyer’s letter is rapidly becoming a key weapon for Romanian officials who want to weaken the country’s anti-corruption authorities.
The leader of Romania’s ruling Social Democratic Party, Liviu Dragnea, referenced Giuliani’s letter in a statement this week, writing that Giuliani’s “moral and professional probity commands respect all over the world.” In his statement, the left-wing politician implied that not following Giuliani’s advice could have repercussions for perceptions of Romania and its position within the “North Atlantic area.”
The Romanian politician’s friendly ties to the North Atlantic region’s most important government, the Trump administration, were on public display last year when Dragnea met with President Donald Trump at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, according to a Facebook post Dragnea published at the time. On Facebook, Dragnea recalled Trump telling him: “We will make it happen! Romania is important for us!”
At that point, Dragnea’s party was already in the middle of a push to repeal some of the tough anti-corruption laws that the country introduced in recent decades — an effort that has been hampered at times by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who leads the National Liberal Party. Dragnea’s enthusiasm about Giuliani’s letter — addressed to Iohannis — might not be entirely unexpected for another reason: Dragnea himself is currently appealing a prison sentence for abuse of office.
As president of the Romanian Senate, former Romanian prime minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu would have some leeway to ask for a review of certain trials. So, when Tariceanu called Giuliani’s letter “very useful” on Tuesday, according to Romania’s Mediafax news agency, the comments likely set off alarm bells in European Union capitals and the State Department, which have long encouraged Romania’s fight against corruption.
Speaking to Politico, the former New York City mayor acknowledged Tuesday that the letter was based on a “report I reviewed,” and that he was paid for it by a global consulting firm. But leading Romanian politicians, including Tariceanu, pointed at Giuliani’s track record as a prosecutor, lawyer and politician to justify their calls to stop corruption probes, and they implied that Giuliani had reached his assessment based on his professional experience rather than as part of a paid engagement.
“It’s a big deal in Romania,” said Marius Pancu, an anchor with independent TV network Digi24. “So far, the ruling party’s problem was that they had no foreign support for their plans. Now, they’re trying to imply that with Giuliani’s statement, the situation has changed.”
In yet another sign of how Giuliani’s intervention is fueling a domestic political battle in Romania, the country’s foreign minister recalled its ambassador to the United States on Monday after the envoy portrayed the Trump lawyer’s letter as “the expression of a lobby initiated by forces interested in defending characters from our country that have had legal problems.”
“Ambassador George Maior had a stance that was not approved at the central level in the Foreign Ministry or the government, and it does not represent the Romanian Foreign Ministry’s stance,” read a statement later issued by the Romanian government.
Maior headed the Romanian intelligence service until 2015, which puts him in the political crossfire. During his tenure, Romanian authorities approved controversial wiretapping operations and electronic surveillance that resulted in the conviction of dozens of high-ranking politicians.
Supporters of Romania’s anti-corruption drive argue that the measures are necessary because illegal schemes exist across the country’s political system and judiciary. But opponents say the system’s flaws extend into the anti-corruption agency itself. They believe that anti-corruption probes are being used to intimidate or remove political opponents — a view now also backed by Giuliani.
Many of the jailed or prosecuted politicians are members of the Social Democratic party (PSD), which is now the biggest supporter of softening corruption laws. In response, voters’ anger has gained momentum in recent months, and only weeks ago, more than 100,000 people protested a government attempt to weaken the anti-corruption authority.