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The Impeachment of President Donald J. Trump

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#925

Re:

The investigators are examining Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to undermine the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie L. Yovanovitch, one of the people said. She was recalled in the spring as part of Mr. Trump’s broader campaign to pressure Ukraine into helping his political prospects.

The investigation into Mr. Giuliani is tied to the case against two of his associates who were arrestedthis week on campaign finance-related charges, the people familiar with the inquiry said. The associates were charged with funneling illegal contributions to a congressman whose help they sought in removing Ms. Yovanovitch.

But also

Ms. Yovanovitch told impeachment investigators on Friday that Mr. Trump had pressed for her removal for months even though the State Department believed she had “done nothing wrong.”

It looks like the investigation is to find out if Giuliani worked with these goons to get rid of the American ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. Something we just found out Trump wanted. :boom:

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#926

So there’s another criminal in the mix. @dragonfly9 posted about this yesterday, referencing a Rachel Maddow segment. Here are more details from Reuters:

One of the two Florida businessmen who helped U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal attorney investigate his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden, also has been working for the legal team of a Ukrainian oligarch who faces bribery charges in the United States, according to attorneys for the businessmen and the oligarch.

Lev Parnas, one of the two associates of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, served as a translator for lawyers representing oligarch Dmytro Firtash. Parnas was arrested on Thursday along with the other Florida businessman, Igor Fruman, on unrelated charges that included illegally funneling $325,000 to a political action committee supporting pro-Trump candidates.

Both men had worked in an unspecified capacity for Firtash before Parnas joined the Ukrainian’s legal team, according to a person familiar with the Florida men’s business dealings with Firtash.

The Floridians’ connection to indicted oligarch Firtash injects an intriguing new character into the rapidly unfolding drama surrounding the effort to impeach Trump.
…
Firtash, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen, is battling extradition by U.S. authorities on bribery charges from Vienna, where he has lived for five years.

Federal prosecutors in Illinois said in court papers in 2017 that Firtash was an “upper-echelon” associate of Russian organized crime. He was indicted in 2013 and charged with bribing Indian officials for access to titanium mines. Firtash has denied any wrongdoing.

Firtash was “financing” the activities of Parnas and Fruman, the source familiar with their business dealings said. The source did not detail their specific work for the oligarch or how much money he had paid them and over what period.

U.S. lawmakers have sought to question the pair about their involvement in Giuliani’s investigation as part of the impeachment inquiry. Giuliani told Reuters in an interview that Parnas and Fruman - U.S. citizens who were born in Ukraine and Belarus, respectively - had helped “find people for me in Ukraine.”

In recent months, Parnas was working for Firtash’s legal team, Joe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing. The firm worked on Firtash’s criminal and extradition cases.

“Mr. Parnas was retained by DiGenova & Toensing, LLP as an interpreter in order to communicate with their client Mr. Firtash, who does not speak English,” the Washington-based firm said in a statement.

A spokesman for the firm said Fruman was not retained in any capacity. DiGenova and Toensing did not comment further on Firtash’s business dealings with the two men in response to questions from Reuters.

John Dowd, the lawyer representing Parnas and Fruman, confirmed to Reuters that Parnas had worked for Firtash’s legal team as an interpreter. But Dowd also told the U.S. Congress that both men worked for DiGenova and Toensing.

On Oct. 3, Dowd wrote Congress to say the two men could not provide certain information about Ukraine because they were partially covered by attorney-client and other legal privileges. Dowd based the privilege claim on the fact that the two men assisted lawyers DiGenova and Toensing; that they had worked for Giuliani; and that Giuliani had previously represented them in their personal and business affairs.

Dowd’s letter did not mention Firtash. He declined to respond to a request to clarify whether one or both of his clients worked for Firtash’s legal team.
…

FLIGHTS TO VIENNA

The person familiar with Parnas and Fruman’s business affairs told Reuters that both men had been working for Firtash for several months before Parnas joined the Ukrainian mogul’s legal team, and that Firtash has paid their expenses in the past. Their costs include private jet charters in the United States and foreign travel to Vienna, according to the source, who is familiar with their finances.

Giuliani told Reuters the two men had been to Vienna - where Firtash lives - three to six times in the last two months. Giuliani declined to comment on the reasons for their travels. He said he did not know about any business relationship between Firtash and the two men that helped him investigate Biden.

“They could be involved in business with each other,” Giuliani said. “It’s possible. I don’t know. They may be involved in his defense.”

Firtash is a former supporter of Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich. He made a fortune selling Russian gas to the Kiev government. An Austrian court in June cleared the way for his extradition to the United States, but Firtash’s legal team continues to fight it. …

Let’s review:

What a den of thieves and traitors!

Additional food for thought: Firtash was a business partner of Paul Manafort.

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#927

Yes…great recapping @Keaton_James

Yes…always “Follow the money,” a phrase popularized by our Watergate investigators and who caught another President - Woodward and Bernstein. The phase itself was not used by Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat…but added by screenwriter Goldman for the movie adaption of their book" All the President’s Men."

Firtash is the BIG FISH who can and will funnel money to any and all of T’s keepers and ganstas - Manafort, Giuliani, these two clowns Igor &… Lev…but ultimately the Feds/SDNY must have a BIG DART aimed at T himself. :dart: :clown_face:

Hope so…Book 'em Danno…Circle those wagons guys…Where there’s Smoke there’s Fire…You’re Going Down…Tick Tock :boom:

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#928

:100:%!

AND we know Giuliani contacted Manafort via another lawyer since Manafort went to prison.

See this story :point_down:

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#929

AP breaks down the order of operations to produce a transcript of Trump’s calls to foreign leaders.

There were dozens of ears listening to President Donald Trump’s 30-minute phone call with the leader of Ukraine that is at the center of a House impeachment inquiry , and as many eyes that saw what he said.

White House staffers, working in the secure, soundproof Situation Room in the West Wing basement, listened in and chronicled the conversation . National Security Council personnel edited a memo written about the call. White House lawyers, according to a government whistleblower , directed that the memo be uploaded into a highly restricted classified computer network. And there were the staffers whose keystrokes on a computer made that happen.

This passage blew my mind,

The person said a six-page pre-brief with attachments was once prepared for Trump before a call to a foreign leader. But that turned out to be too long, as did a single-page version. Preparing pre-brief note cards that offered about three talking points for Trump to make on a call was the norm, according to this person, who feared retribution for describing this process and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The individual said that when Trump is done with the note cards, he often rips them up and tosses them in a burn bag. Staff who handle records have had to retrieve the burn bags from the residence, put the papers out on a table and tape them back together to preserve them as official presidential records, this person said.

Wow. His presidential library, if he gets one, will be full of copies of taped up bits of index cards with three handwritten talking points in what I’m sure is probably black sharpie. :joy:

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#930

AND there’s the "Vienna Connection."

Firtash lives in Vienna and Giuliani himself has said the Parnas and Fruman visited Firtash there "three to six times in the last two months." When P & F were apprended at the airport on their way out of the country, they had one-way tickets to…Vienna. And Giuliani had previously announced he was traveling in the same time frame to…Vienna (posted originally by @Windthin ):

At least while the whole bunch is being hauled off, they’ll be able to say “We always had Vienna.”

BTW, does anyone know if Giuliani has confirmed or denied that he has ever met Firtash? If he hasn’t weighed in on that, it would be a killer question for his next zany interview.

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#931

AND there’s the "diGenova & Toensing connection."

This is the husband-wife legal team referenced several times in the above Reuters article – they are at the nexus of the relationship between Giuliani, Firtash, Parnas and Fruman. What the article doesn’t mention is that diGenova and Toensing also have close ties to Trump. They are one of Trump’s most vocal advocates on Fox News and, true to his penchant for drafting from the Fox bench, he almost hired them to represent him during the Mueller investigation, but deferred at the last minute due to a “conflict of interest” (as if that ever bothered him).

This duo appears to be as strong a candidate for indictments as Rudy is:

This connection was posted by @dragonfly9 yesterday – here are more telling details:

  • Fox News’ Chris Wallace reported Sunday morning that President Donald Trump has worked with two personal lawyers, in addition to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to pressure Ukrainian officials.

  • Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing are two former federal prosecutors who are now best-known for their pro-Trump media appearances. The husband and wife duo run a law firm in Washington, D.C.

  • Trump formerly tried to recruit the two for his legal defense in the Russia probe, but a conflict of interest prohibited them from joining the president’s legal team at that time.

  • Along with Giuliani, who previously denied that any other attorneys were involved, diGenova and Toensing worked with the president “off the books,” so as not to involve the White House, in trying to solicit damaging information about Joe Biden from Ukrainian officials.

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that top US officials confirmed President Donald Trump was working with more than one personal lawyer “off the books” to pressure Ukranian officials for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden.

Wallace reported that in addition to his known personal lawyer, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has publicly admitted to his involvement in the matter, Trump has been working with the controversial legal team and married couple Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, who run a firm in Washington, D.C., to communicate with Ukraine.

Trump initially attempted to hire the two lawyers to represent him in the Russia probe investigation, but decided not to after it was revealed that the two attorneys had a conflict of interest in the case. Toensing had previously represented witnesses who had already communicated with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team.

DiGenova and Toensing have controversial reputations for pushing conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI, including that officials within the FBI have tried to “frame” Trump for “nonexistent crimes.”

DiGenova also called for the firing of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, referred to Mueller’s team as “legal terrorists,” and called former FBI Director James Comey a “dirty cop.” In February, on conservative personality Laura Ingraham’s podcast, diGenova said the US is in a civil war, and suggested that people buy guns to prepare for potential combat between warring factions.

joseph digenova fox news

Lawyer and former US District Attorney Joseph diGenova has been a repeat guest on Fox News.

Just three days ago, diGenova appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s segment to deny that what the president said in the memo detailing his known call with Ukraine constituted a crime.

“Let me underscore emphatically that nothing that the President said on that call, or what we think he said on that call constitutes a crime,” diGenova said, without disclosing any involvement of his own. “And even if he had said, you’re not going to get the money, it would not be a crime.”

According to the US official who Wallace used as his anonymous source, only Trump knows the full details concerning diGenova and Toensing’s involvement in the Ukraine efforts, because the president worked with the two “off the books,” choosing not to involve people within his White House administration itself.

Giuliani has denied working with any other lawyers in Ukraine dealings multiple times in Fox News appearances – a narrative that the network itself contradicts with these latest developments.

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#933

This diGenova and Toensing?

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#934

Other excerpts that stood out here:

Occasionally, while on the phone with foreign heads of state, Trump has handed the receiver to his daughter, Ivanka Trump, so she can talk with the leader…

WTF? WTF? WTF? Ivanka has zero qualifications for representing the U.S. at the highest levels of international negotiations. Can you imagine if Obama had handed off a phone call from a foreign leader to Michelle or some other family member? There would be five-inch tall headlines condemning him, but with this president it’s just “meh – par for the course.”

But, to me, this is actually the key passage:

Individuals familiar with Trump White House procedure say one Situation Room staffer, using voice-to-text software, repeats each word the president says and another listens and repeats what the foreign leader says. The software turns the words they repeat into text and a rough draft of the telcon is produced.

That draft is given to subject matter specialists on the NSC, who edit the draft for accuracy. Each draft is separately preserved. After it’s finalized, it’s turned over to the national security adviser — Bolton, at the time — or the deputy, who was Kupperman, for their approval. White House lawyers also play a role in approving NSC documents.

Two takeaways:

  1. There are no voice recordings, but the closest thing to that is the word-for-word, voice-to-text draft. Congress must be granted access to that draft and I feel the American people are also entitled to see it. Especially in light of point 2.

  2. Bolton and/or Kupperman and perhaps even others in the chain of command had an opportunity to “approve” of the draft – I assume that means that if they didn’t approve of it, they could order changes or make changes themselves. In other words, this article confirms our worst fears that the version of the phone conversation we were allowed to see could have been doctored by one or more Trump appointees within the NSC.

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#935

Absolutely! Thanks for that link. A couple highlights:

Firtash is an “upper-echelon” associate of Russian organized crime, according to a 2017 Justice Department court filing. He told a U.S. ambassador of his consultations with the notorious Russian mob boss Semion Mogilevich, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable…

As the founder of RosUkrEnergo, Firtash acted as a middleman between the Russian and Ukrainian national natural gas companies, and allegedly played a central role in a corrupt scheme to use the profits from reselling cheap Russian gas to fund pro-Russia political forces in Ukraine.

Firtash worked with Paul Manafort on an abortive effort in 2008 to redevelop a New York hotel for $895 million. Firtash also reportedly played a role in Manafort’s 2005 hiring as a consultant to the Party of Regions, the pro-Russian political party of which Firtash was a major backer.

John Herbst, who served as ambassador to Ukraine under George W. Bush, said the association with Firtash undermines the entire effort by Trump allies to push for investigations of the Bidens and alleged Ukrainian election interference. "The Giuliani team does not understand Ukraine. If it did, members of his team would not be representing Dmytro Firtash, perhaps the most odious oligarch in Ukraine,” said Herbst, now director of the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council. “Shokin’s defense of Firtash underscores that he was never and is not today a fighter against corruption.”

“It’s preposterous,” said Adrian Karatnycky, a Ukraine expert and former president of the pro-democracy NGO Freedom House, of the story laid out in the affidavit. Pointing to Firtash’s Kremlin ties, he said, "There is now a distinct possibility of a Russian hand in all this.”
…
And Firtash isn’t the only Ukrainian oligarch with big legal problems who now faces questions from investigators: On Monday, the House Oversight Committee demanded documents and communications related to influential billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky as part of its subpoena of Giuliani.

The involvement of Kolomoisky and Firtash complicates the already mind-boggling array of factions and agendas that form the backdrop of the Ukraine scandal. Because both face potential criminal liability in the U.S., both have reason to align themselves with Trump and try to ingratiate themselves to the president’s allies, according to Ukraine experts.

But the exact nature of Kolomoisky’s role in this saga isn’t yet clear. …

The rest of the article gives some fascinating background on Kolomoisky and his possible connections to this scandal, but at this point he’s still in the “watch this space” category.

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#936

I was saving for a rainy day. Thanks putting this into context. It really helps to see it all laid out and to have someone else confirm that I’m not going crazy. :crazy_face:

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#937

Here’s the Maddow segment - discussing how Giuliani’s relationships with Igor and Lev as their lawyer as well as the President’s lawyer.

Here is a breakdown of how T got people removed from Ukraine, US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.

Also, here’s how they all were linked with Giuliani at the forefront, manipulating all of them. The one way flights to Vienna for the these two, and subsequently for Giuliani
meant there was something cooking there.

At 13:15 = Maddow talks about what could be awaiting them in Vienna…Firtash, and Rudy holds up the propaganda document which was created by FIRTASH.

So listen how she ties in Rudy and Firtash and the others. You have to conjecture that Rudy knows Firtash with this document.

@Keaton_James and @anon95374541 -maybe worth watching for some links.

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#938

The adage that T 'n Co have no guardrails…well, they also do not have competent staff either, as they sent out for a SECOND TIME the R’s talking points after Amb Yovanovitch’s 9 hour testimony to the Dems.

Truth is weirder than fiction for sure… :tipping_hand_woman:

The White House accidentally sent Democrats a list of talking points related to ex-Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s Friday House deposition, two sources with knowledge of the email told The Hill, the second time in a month the administration has sent its Ukraine talking points to Democrats.

The email included guidance for Republicans seeking to defend the president from potentially damaging witness testimony from an ambassador who was removed from her post in May under controversial circumstances.

In copies of the guidance shared with The Hill, the White House encouraged Republicans to adopt a series of messages designed to turn the tables back on Democrats, including attacks on House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) handling of the investigation.

Yovanovitch told House lawmakers that she was removed after “a concerted campaign" against her from President Trump and his allies.

She also said in her opening statement that the State Department had "been under pressure from the president to remove me since the summer of 2018."

Yovanovitch’s ouster came two months before Trump’s July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president — now at the center of Democrats’ impeachment inquiry — in which Trump asked Kiev to open an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 presidential candidate.

“We are not concerned with any information Yovanovitch might share, because the President did nothing wrong,” the White House email meant for Republicans said. “But we are concerned that Schiff is putting her a precarious position by having her testify in secret without State Department lawyers be present.”

“It raises serious questions about why Schiff is willing to put career officials in such risky situations while bullying them with legally unfounded threats of obstruction charges,” the email continued.

It added that Schiff "is willing to ride roughshod over fair process and to use career officials to further a baseless political objective."

The email marks the second time the White House has unintentionally sent talking points to Democrats in recent weeks, after an administration official inadvertently emailed them suggested rhetoric defending the July 25 phone call.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

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#939

AGAIN? This is the stupidest collection of incompetents and petty criminals ever collected.

Also.

Rudy Giuliani Is Now Tweeting Incriminating Evidence Against Trump

Trump’s lawyer is locked in a fight with Trump’s State Department, which Trump’s lawyer tried to win by tweeting incriminating evidence against Trump.

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#940

This about the texts. Trump told Sondland on a phone call that there was no quid pro quo before he had the text exchange. :joy:

Trump’s envoy to testify that ‘no quid pro quo’ came from Trump

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-envoy-who-denied-quid-pro-quo-now-says-he-isnt-certain/2019/10/12/4abe0902-bc19-44e8-8c38-9aa35c544859_story.html

The U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, intends to tell Congress this week that the content of a text message he wrote denying a quid pro quo with Ukraine was relayed to him directly by President Trump in a phone call, according to a person familiar with his testimony.

Sondland plans to tell lawmakers he has no knowledge of whether the president was telling him the truth at that moment. “It’s only true that the president said it, not that it was the truth,” said the person familiar with Sondland’s planned testimony, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters.

The Sept. 9 exchange between Sondland and the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine has become central to the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into whether the president abused his office in pressuring Ukraine to open an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son, who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company. The White House and its defenders have held up Sondland’s text, which included “no quid pro quo’s of any kind,” as proof that none was ever considered.

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#941
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#942

Whole lot of CYA for Ambassador Sondland…EXCEPT that the tone of his texts do make it seem Sondland was trying to shift the gist of the Ukrainian holding Military funds in exchange for dirt on Bidens.

Trump%20Sondland%20texts
Trump%20Sondland%20texts595×539 112 KB

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#943

Fox’s Jeanne Pirro gets the question to T as to whether G is his lawyer…T says yes.

But that brings T closer to the Igor and Lev group…

The Client-Attorney defense can ONLY work for client but not under the conditions that there was some kind of illegal activities going on between them.

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#944

@dragonfly9

Wow

Mini-rant:

Giuliani was either working on behalf of the President or not. There’s no way Giuliani can pretend like there’s a veil of separation between his clients here, re: everything we laid out this morning. C’mon!

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#945

T stands by Giuliani…Aides do not like the hyperbolic nature of Rudy’s comment…Round and round they go…

Behind the scenes, however, many of Trump’s closest aides and advisers, inside and outside the White House, quietly wish the president would cut ties with Giuliani, whose leadership of New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks earned him worldwide admiration and the moniker of “America’s mayor.”

Giuliani was a force in Trump’s defense during the lengthy Russia investigation by the special counsel. Yet the effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller led Giuliani to Ukraine, which now entangles the former federal prosecutor and mayor in legal jeopardy and is central to the danger threatening the presidency he labored to protect.

The New York Times reported Friday, citing a pair of anonymous sources familiar with the matter, that the investigation is linked to Giuliani’s efforts to undermine Marie Yovanovitch, formerly the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan has declined to comment on the Times report.

On Saturday, Trump deployed in Giuliani’s defense the same two-word phrase — “Witch Hunt!” — he repeatedly used to attack the legitimacy of the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and now the House impeachment inquiry against him.

“So now they are after the legendary ‘crime buster’ and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani,” Trump tweeted while on the way to his northern Virginia golf club. “He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer.”

…

Asked if he still represented Trump, Giuliani replied to The Associated Press with a one-word text message: “Yes.”

White House officials have been flabbergasted by Giuliani’s performance on Trump’s behalf, particularly his habit of revealing embarrassing information without so much as a heads-up to the president’s full-time aides.

Aides have come to view Giuliani’s behavior much as they have their boss’ — with resignation that they will rarely be consulted beforehand to develop a strategic plan, and that any plan will be ignored.

One White House aide said there was frustration among aides that they have borne the brunt of criticism from some in Trump’s orbit for not having a more coordinated response to the impeachment probe, saying they were operating without visibility into what Giuliani has been doing. The aide and others who spoke on this subject did so on the condition of anonymity.

White House lawyers rarely deal with Giuliani directly, preferring to coordinate when necessary with Jay Sekulow, viewed as the more even-keeled lawyer on the president’s outside team.

Aides who spoke on this subject said the general feeling among them is that Trump has yet to fully grasp the extent of Giuliani’s side-dealings and hope Trump will eventually sour on his fellow New Yorker.

Giuliani was first brought on as the public face of Trump’s defense of the Russia investigation, with Trump valuing his pugnacious style from the 2016 campaign and his reputation as “America’s mayor.”

…

Many in the administration — including in the West Wing and at the State Department — have tried to distance themselves from Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, eagerly leaking to reporters unflattering stories about the former mayor’s clumsy investigative efforts.

And while there is a grudging respect among some Trump allies and in the reelection campaign at Giuliani’s willingness to defend the president on TV, something few others in the White House have done of late, many believe his interviews have become too hyperbolic and his undisciplined manner of speaking could put Trump at risk.

But though Trump himself has at time grown frustrated with Giuliani, he has defended the former mayor to people around him. Trump has spoken admiringly of Giuliani’s no-nonsense style and willingness to go all-out to defend the administration and attack the president’s Democratic foes and the news media, according to three White House officials and Republicans close to the White House. The officials insisted on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Trump admired Giuliani’s two terms as mayor and has told confidants he was the last “strong” mayor his hometown had.

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