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Former Trump lawyer Giuliani denies representing Ukrainians

Published 04/29/2021, 09:21 AM
Updated 04/29/2021, 11:02 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks at NY Police Event in Bedminster, New Jersey

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: President Donald Trump Delivers Remarks at NY Police Event in Bedminster, New Jersey

(Reuters) -Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani denied on Thursday he had ever represented a Ukrainian national, a day after federal agents searched his Manhattan apartment and office as part of a probe into his business dealings in Ukraine.

Giuliani said the agents seized seven or eight electronic devices and the search warrant included an allegation that he had failed to register as a foreign agent, a violation of lobbying laws.

"I've never represented a Ukrainian national or official before the United States government," Giuliani said in an interview on Fox News.

Federal prosecutors have been investigating Giuliani for nearly 1-1/2 years over his Ukrainian business dealings while serving as Trump's attorney. He has not formally been accused of any wrongdoing.

Trump criticized the federal investigation into Giuliani on Thursday.

"It’s very, very unfair," Trump told Fox Business Network in a telephone interview. "Rudy is a patriot who loves this country and I don’t know what they’re looking for, what they’re doing. They said it had to do with filing of various papers."

A spokesman for the Republican former president said in February that Giuliani was not representing Trump in any current legal matters.

Giuliani played a central role in Trump's failed effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat based on false claims of massive voter fraud.

Wednesday's search marked a significant step in the investigators' probe. A 2019 grand jury subpoena for Giuliani's financial records seen by Reuters showed that agents were examining possible money laundering, wire fraud, campaign finance violations, making false statements, obstruction of justice, and violations of the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act.

It marks the latest turn for Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who rose to national prominence following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who once led the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan that is now probing him.

Giuliani began representing Trump in 2018 amid a federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Giuliani led an effort to dig up dirt on Democratic contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter in Ukraine. Biden defeated Trump and took office earlier this year. Both Biden and his son have denied wrongdoing.

The FBI warned Giuliani in late 2019 that he was the target of a Russian influence operation aimed at circulating falsehoods intended to damage Biden politically, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Giuliani lawyer Robert Costello did not immediately return a request for comment on the Post story.

Costello said on Wednesday that authorities had seized cellphones and computers and, along with Giuliani's son, Andrew, suggested that the investigation of his client was politically motivated - a charge the White House denied.

Biden said on Thursday he had no notice of the Department of Justice's actions and was making good on his campaign pledge to maintain its independence.

© Reuters. Andrew Brown Jr., who was killed by law enforcement last week, poses in an undated family photograph

"I made a pledge," he told NBC News in an interview. "I would not interfere in any way. ... I learned about that last night when the rest of the world learned about it."

Giuliani faces separate legal actions regarding his actions surrounding the November election and the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters - one from a Democratic congressman and another from voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems.

Latest comments

Darren, kaveh, eudon, your up late. oh that's right you're stationed in St Petersburg. you Russians don't get it. the American legal system is about law and Order not authoritarianism and the whims of a paranoid dictator. you know like incompetent Putin and his wannabe Donald Trump.
Funny libs come out in full force too but poiting fingers at the other.
John Kerry - treason
Eudon hickey- hates America.
Just shows how ineot the biden administration is, desperately seeking for something they can call an accomplishment.
Inept
Not at all, CatholicMan. The investigation has nothing to do with the Biden Administration. It's being run by the FBI, who answer to the DOJ. And unlike Trump, who constantly tried to interfere with investigations, and pressure the DOJ, Biden has clearly stated that he will not get involved, and will respect the independence of the DOJ.
talking about Ukraine... hunter has entered into the chat
barr, trump's Attorney General found that Hunter Bydon had done nothing wrong..
because neither rudy or trump would tell any lies -  really - you know wink wink really
And the truly amazing part is he does it all with dementia.  Incredible
The truly amazing thing is how Trumpublicans continue to parrot the narrative about "sleepy" Joe and "dementia" but then simultaneously cry about all the things he's doing.
Gig economy workers will now have income tax and *****withheld from their checks. Another Biden initiative.  Goodbye gig economy
80 billion dollars for IRS tax enforcement so they can shove that new and bigger  tax bill down your throat
go back to russia
Biden spends six trillion on programs with no productivity (above the annual federal deficit) in 100 days
Witch Hunt more witch Hunt always with the witch Hunt. Trump's not going away.
So... any time a criminal investigation occurs against a Conservative it's automatically "a witch hunt" or "very unfair", no matter how guilty they look, right? Hmm.
the conservatives cleansing continues...
You mean "criminal" cleansing.
(As in the noun, not the adjective)
Creppy Rudy
Creepy
Democrats will do whatever it takes to steal your money.
Weaponizing the IRS and FBI ....where have we seen this be6.
take him down and out
Gangsters belong in jail...
Okay, so where is Killary?
Another witch hunt.
In jail Rudy would be the teenage girl and his cellmate will be the old guy taking his pants off like he did in Borat.......
Rudy can now smoke cigars in jail without any disturbance.Trump will be joining soon.
They leave no rock unterns. In the end, he either has to plead guilty to save money or die broke.
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