A bombshell report from the U.S. National Intelligence Council makes clear that Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to once again help Donald Trump win reelection in 2020, and it also seems to suggest that the go-between for Russia was none other than Rudy Giuliani.
The New York Timesreports that while the intelligence report doesn’t specifically name any individual, the language used in the report clearly points in Guiliani’s direction:
“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia authorized extensive efforts to interfere in the American presidential election to denigrate the candidacy of Joseph R. Biden Jr., including intelligence operations to influence people close to former President Donald J. Trump, according to a declassified intelligence report released Tuesday.
“The report did not name those people but seemed to be a reference to the work of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who relentlessly pushed allegations of corruption about Mr. Biden and his family involving Ukraine.
“’Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin’s interests worked to affect U.S. public perceptions in a consistent manner,’ the report said.”
Think back several months to when it became clear that Joe Biden had all of the momentum and would be the Democratic nominee. Giuliani made multiple appearances on Fox News and other right-wing media outlets to suggest that he was on the verge of releasing information that would supposedly prove criminal actions on the part of Biden or his son, Hunter. Despite his promises that such information was forthcoming, the former New York City mayor never came up with anything other than rumors and accusations devoid of any substantiation.
At the center of the efforts to smear Biden was the nation of Ukraine, which Giuliani even visited, as The Hill noted back in December of 2019:
“Giuliani met with multiple Ukrainian officials as he continued his effort to counter House Democrats’ impeachment probe and paint an investigation into the Bidens as a matter critical to the relationship between the two countries.”
Additionally, the key figure in the effort to dig up negative information on the Biden family was also of Ukrainian origin:
“Moscow used Andriy Derkach, a pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s parliament, to undermine Mr. Biden, the report detailed. Mr. Derkach, according to the report, released leaked phone calls to undermine Mr. Biden and link him to Ukrainian corruption four times in 2020. The report said Mr. Putin ‘had purview’ over the actions of Mr. Derkach, who had ties to Russian intelligence.
“Moscow’s operatives also pushed a false narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for interfering in American politics, according to the report. Last year, American intelligence officials told Congress that Russia was using allies to pushing negative stories about Mr. Biden’s son Hunter and his work in Ukraine.”
Giuliani’s efforts on Trump and Russia’s behalf could place him in severe legal jeopardy if the Department of Justice chooses to file charges against him. Rudy didn’t receive a pardon before Trump left office, and that could come back to be a very big deal.
No matter what happens, the intelligence report makes clear that both Russia and Giuliani were working fervently to get Trump reelected. Fortunately for the United States (and the world), they were unsucessful.
