R&I – TxPAT ***
Photo credit Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Newly revealed audio from a 2019 phone call has shown how Rudy Giuliani pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate baseless allegations about Joe Biden, CNN reported on Monday.
In the call Giuliani, then working as a lawyer for Donald Trump, pushes the Ukrainian officials on the call to publicly announce an investigation into Trump’s 2020 rival.
“All we need from the president [Zelenskiy] is to say, I’m gonna put an honest prosecutor in charge, he’s gonna investigate and dig up the evidence that presently exists and is there any other evidence about involvement of the 2016 election, and then the Biden thing has to be run out,” Giuliani said, according to the audio that was obtained by CNN.
The US diplomat Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, were also on the call. Some details of the roughly 40 minute conversation have already been made public in a transcript, obtained by Time Magazine earlier this year.
Giuliani also reportedly promised that if the Ukrainians complied with his request it would “clear the air really well” and that he would talk to Trump to make sure “misunderstandings are put aside”. He also added that it “could be a good thing for having a much better relationship”.
The call occurred prior to the now infamous conversation between Trump and Zelenskiy, during which Trump hinted that US military aid might depend on the Ukrainian president’s willingness to “do us a favour” by announcing an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.
Best in Moderation
Article URL : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/07/rudy-giuliani-ukraine-officials-audio-joe-biden