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Giuliani Associate Lev Parnas Claims He Was On A “Secret Mission” for Trump in Ukraine

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Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani knew he was placing a target on his back when he agreed to work as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

By: Helmut Schmeitzer

That target is getting bigger.

The former prosecutor is reportedly being investigated for potential campaign finance violations and a failure to register as a foreign agent as part of an active investigation into his financial dealings.

“The probe of Giuliani, which one official said could also include possible charges on violating laws against bribing foreign officials or conspiracy, presents a serious threat to Trump’s presidency from a man that former national security adviser John Bolton has called a “hand grenade,” reported Crain’s New York Business.

Opponents of the president in New York City are said to be looking into whether or not Giuliani “stood to profit personally from a Ukrainian natural-gas business pushed by two associates who also aided his efforts there to launch investigations that could benefit President Trump, people familiar with the matter said,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman “pitched their new company, and plans for a Poland-to-Ukraine pipeline carrying U.S. natural gas, in meetings with Ukrainian officials and energy executives this year, saying the project had the support of the Trump administration, according to people briefed on the meetings,” the Journal added. “In many of the same meetings, the two men also pushed for assistance on investigations into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and alleged interference by Ukraine in the 2016 U.S. election, some of the people said.”

Thehill.com has reported that an associate of Giuliani’s allegedly told others that he was on a “secret mission” for the president. “After meeting with Trump at the White House in December, Lev Parnas reportedly insinuated to associates that the president had given him a special assignment, like some sort of “James Bond mission,” one of his confidants told CNN.”

For his own part, the former mayor seems relatively unconcerned about the brouhaha. In an interview with The Guardian, he said he is “confident the president will remain loyal to him as an impeachment inquiry unfolds in which the former New York mayor has become a central figure. In a telephone interview with the Guardian, in response to a question about whether he was nervous that Trump might “throw him under a bus” in the impeachment crisis, Giuliani said, with a slight laugh: “I’m not, but I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid.” Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who was also on the call, then interjected: “He’s joking.”

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