The two sought to distance themselves from President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and the Ukrainian couple’s aide B Der Derkach after he was cleared by the US Treasury Department and fired.
Rudy Giuliani, who worked with Darkach and worked as Trump’s lawyer and top biden-dirt-digger, which resulted in the impeachment of his own client, told The Daily Beast on Friday that he was no longer in contact with Russian intelligence assets.
Asked if he would continue to talk to Dirkach, Giuliani – who has begun working with Trump’s 2020 campaign – replied, “Didn’t talk.[ed] Him in months. Asked if this week’s news meant his friendship and collaboration with Derkach was over, Giuliani replied briefly, “No idea.”
According to Giuliani, no one from the Trump administration or in the presidency or from the inner circle warned him to ever meet with Derkach, although the Ukrainian legislator has long been under investigation for his Kremlin ties. Giuliani said that after all this time and scandal, no one even bothered to investigate with him so that he could express his reservations about Derkach.
In his first registration comment since Derkach was approved, former Ukrainian diplomat Ryndri Telizhenko claimed that Russian assets were never a key member of the team with him and Gioliani, a political maneuver in Ukraine to harm Baden and his losses. Son Hunter before the November election.
“I never liked Darkach, I never knew his background,” Telizhenko told the Daily Beast. “The methods that Darkach used – some record leaks – hurt the team. U.S. Intelligence services may have found solid evidence of the man’s background. I’m sure not everyone who knows Derkach will be surprised to hear about the sanctions. (After the release, Telizhenko arrived to explain that when he said “team” it meant “the Trump administration and.” [its] Team. ”)
Earlier, the Daily Beast reported that the Ukrainian legislator had claimed he had enough evidence to bring down Biden and Trump’s former presidential rival Hillary Clinton, claiming that the Ukrainian legislator had met with Gillian in Kiev last December.
“Will be Jillia’s [wise] To share what he got from Ukraine [intelligence community] To make sure it’s not Russia’s propaganda.”
– Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
Although Telizhenko claims not to be Darkach’s closest ally, the pair have a history of working with Giulia to propagate conspiracy theories about Ukraine’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. They have also teamed up with the president’s personal lawyer to obtain information about Bidens and his political dealings in Ukraine. Telizhenko told BuzzFeed News in July that he had warned Giuliani about working with Dirkach because of his “pro-Russian organizations.” Perhaps coincidentally, the same day was issued by the intelligence community warning of Russian “proxies” interference in the upcoming elections.
Before this summer break, it was something of a symbiotic relationship between the three men. Giulini has interviewed both Derkach and Telizenko about bids on their YouTube video series “Common Sense”. Derkach appeared for a separate interview with Giuliani in February. It appears that Telizhenko played the role of translator during Darkach’s meeting. (“I did not act as a translator for the Dirkach interview with Mr. Giuliani, but was asked by Mr. Giuliani to do voiceover a few days later.” [for a video] After my meeting with Mr. Giulia, ”Teleshenko said after the publication.
The trio also participated in a three-part One America News Network (OAN) documentary on the Ukraine impeachment “fraud” aired in December 2019. Giuliani traveled to Ukraine to meet with Teleshenko and Derkach. When asked for comment about Derkach on Friday afternoon, the network’s president, Charles Herring, responded with a 167-word text message. None of those words refer to Darkach.
In his meetings, Giuliani said he collected hundreds of pages of documents outlining Biden’s corruption in Ukraine, saying the information would expose the presidential candidate as “fraud.” Telizhenko helped Giuliani during his trip, he said, but claims that he and the rest of his “team” did not arrange a meeting of Trump advisers with Darkach. (Ukrainian gas businessman Oleksandr Onishchenko, accused of embezzlement, has also worked with Giulia in the past. Giulia was arrested in Germany in December 2019 during a trip to Kiev.)
Telizhenko told the Daily Beast that former MLA Andrei Artemenko, who was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship in 2017 over a deal to lease Crimea in Russia, arranged a meeting between Giuliani and Derkach in December. Artemenko, by the name of ryndri kuchma, will be in the U.S. this spring. Derkach to work in the country with the Department of Justice and filed a paper to help arrange meetings between members of Congress, including members of the House and Senate foreign affairs committees.
“It simply came to our notice then [Telizhenko] Now there is a desire to try and distance yourself from Darkach. It’s ridiculous but not surprising, “said a senior US official working on Ukraine policy. “It simply came to our notice then. If he wants to be safe from sanctions, it would be wise for him not to act like Derkach. ”
A person with direct knowledge told the Daily Beast that the Treasury and state departments have been working together for months to come up with a plan to approve Darkach. In the process, Derkach’s U.S. Includes visa cancellation. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. Telizhenko told the Daily Beast that his US visa is still valid and that he plans to return to the US when the coronavirus epidemic begins to weaken.
Despite trying to distance himself from Dirkach, Telizhenko helped Gioliana smoke a cigar and organize his trip to Kiev. “Mr. Giuliani and I traveled together from Budapest; we talked for hours about corruption in Ukraine,” Telizhenko said. “I helped organize a few meetings for Mr. Giuliani in Kiev.” (Telizhenko said after the publication that he met with Mr. Giuliani. Never accepted a drink, only returned to Kiev from Budapest with him. “)
Telizhenko said he continued to work to bring out the so-called scandal in Ukraine, which would hurt Biden, and Sen. Ron Johnson testified in the previous year. “I am [providing evidence] In the Senate, there are high and low level US officials involved in corrupt schemes on the territory of Ukraine under the Obama administration, “he said. “The results of the Senate inquiry will be released in two weeks.”
“Telizenko and Derkach have credibility issues,” the former senior official said. “It has long been known that Derkach works in Russia’s interests and is an active foothold in disintegration. Johnson knows this. He knows he can’t rely on this kind of information. “
Telizhenko said he had given many emails from American officials to the Senate. “My prediction is that Donald Trump wins the election in November,” he said, adding that his “team would be happy to help in the peace process” in Trump’s second term in Ukraine, by which he probably means calming Russian aggression in the region.
In a statement reacting to the Treasury’s announcement Thursday, Johnson and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) bizarrely accused Democrats of relying on Gualini’s contact Derkach to differentiate, falsely accusing him of negotiating with a Russian agent:
“Foreign elections in all its forms from any corner of the world cannot be tolerated. We applaud the Trump administration for cracking down on those responsible for foreign interference, and I hope that my Democratic allies in Congress will eventually stop relying on the likes of Rindri Derkach to spur their political rivals. “
Since last year, Giuliani’s confusion with figures such as the Biden-Ukraine Crusade and Dirkach has shocked various Trump lieutenants and allies on Capitol Hill, who have been paying close attention to Giuliani’s Trump and Washington’s return to Washington. Or Russian. Propaganda.
Senna Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Trump’s ally and confidant on the Hill, told the Daily Beast in December that “Giulia’s will be [wise] To share what he got from Ukraine [intelligence community] To make sure it’s not Russia’s propaganda. I am very skeptical about what Russians do all over the world. “(At the time, Giuliani simply insisted that what he had received was not” Russian propaganda. “)
However, Graham’s remarks were silenced on Friday, if not absent, and he specifically refused to address Derkach or Giuliani when asked in a brief phone interview. GOP made “just a general proposal” instead of a senator.
“No matter what comes out of Ukraine, we need to make sure that the intelligence community takes a good look at it … because there are industries and other organizations easily manipulated,” Graham said. “My advice would be to keep your guard… with anything coming out of Ukraine… I believe then and now. That doesn’t mean you can’t see abuse or abuse of power, [however]”
Given Giuliani’s current, Biden-related work with the Trump campaign, Giuliani’s recent collaboration with a Russian agent echoes the disturbing echoes of the Kremlin’s “alliance” narrative, which has long plagued Trump’s first campaign and administration. However, it is a parallel that appears to be shortening Team Trump. Two senior Trump campaign officials and other sources close to the team say they are unaware of any of the employees who see this as a serious concern this week.
“If the ‘Resisters’ want to run this campaign about Russia again, it will be a terrible strategy. “Come on,” said one Republican close to the Trump campaign.
Update at 5:55 pm: This story has been updated with additional comments from Telizenko.
.
