WHITE HOUSE WAS WARNED RUSSIANS PLAYED GIULIANI

U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was the target of an inf luence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former off icials familiar with the matter.

The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence during a December 2019 trip to Ukraine, where he was gathering information that he thought would expose corr upt acts by former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The intelligence raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to the president, the former off icials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and conversations.

The warnings to the White House, which have not been previously repor ted, led national security adviser Rober t O’Brien to caution Trump in a private conversation that any information Giuliani brought back from Ukraine should be considered contaminated by Russia, one of the former off icials said.

The message was, “Do what you want to do, but your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine,” this person said. Off icials wanted “to protect the president from coming out and saying something stupid,” particularly since he was facing impeachment over his own effor ts to strong-arm Ukraine’s president into investigating the Bidens.