“Smoking Gun” Released In Giuliani’s Ukraine Plot

The New York Times reports:

One of the new documents shows Mr. Giuliani saying that he had Mr. Trump’s blessing to seek a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president-elect, last spring, potential new evidence on the eve of the president’s impeachment trial.

Mr. Giuliani has previously said he was acting at Mr. Trump’s direction in his dealings with Ukrainian officials, but the letter released on Tuesday is the first public document that says he was doing so.

“In my capacity as personal counsel to President Trump and with his knowledge and consent, I request a meeting with you on this upcoming Monday, May 13th or Tuesday, May 14th,” Mr. Giuliani wrote in the letter to Mr. Zelensky, who was sworn in as president soon after.

“I think the letter… from Rudy Giuliani is a real smoking gun, because you have Rudy Giuliani saying that he’s acting in the president’s personal capacity. That shows that the president and Rudy Giuliani knew this would be improper.” – Andrew Weissmann https://t.co/khfZAUbVMm

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 15, 2020

.@jgeltzer and @neal_katyal nail it: the Parnas Papers are devastating. They shred what little is left of Trump’s “defense.” The details matter: https://t.co/4RGptWKxH7

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) January 15, 2020

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch called for an investigation into the “disturbing” notion that she was under surveillance from associates of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani https://t.co/JjXR5hShb0

— CNN (@CNN) January 15, 2020

.@NBCNews correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell on evidence in the Trump impeachment case, which includes records from Giuliani associate Lev Parnas: “This helps Nancy Pelosi prove her point that holding onto these articles of impeachment was a good thing.” https://t.co/7vL3pGs4DR

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 15, 2020

Wow.

Texts from Giuliani cronies, just released by House, are incredibly disturbing.

One text discusses unsavory characters in Ukraine willing to “help” with Yovanovitch for “a price”

A few weeks later Yovanovitch was told to leave immediately over concerns about her safety pic.twitter.com/kh00CMXFW0

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) January 14, 2020