According to a report from the Washington Post, Ukraine government officials who tried to stay out of the fray when Donald Trump was impeached the first time for trying to dig up dirt on now-President Joe Biden's son Hunter, are now filling in more details into Rudy Giuliani's efforts on behalf of the ex-president.
In 2018, then-President Donald Trump became concerned about the budding presidential aspirations of former Vice President Joe Biden which, in turn, eventually led him to involve Giuliani -- who was serving as the president's personal attorney -- to head up an investigation into Biden's past.
That, combined with a 2019 phone call to Ukraine President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump made what was called a "quid pro quo" offer tied to aid for the country, became a key feature of his first impeachment trial.
Until now, Ukraine officials have kept their distance from revealing more about Giuliani's actions and conversations out of fear of Trump, but the Post reports that they are now being more forthcoming with a new administration in place.
"Now, as the Biden administration settles in, some close allies of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky are opening up about one of the longest-running dramas from the Trump era — the blitz of meetings, messages and public statements in Ukraine by former president Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani," the report states. "Among the accounts emerging from Ukrainian officials is a July 2019 phone call between Giuliani and Andriy Yermak, formerly one of Zelensky's top aides and now his chief of staff. Yermak said the conversation was the first direct contact between Giuliani and the Zelensky administration and, until now, was only discussed in general terms."
The report notes there are no bombshells in what has been released to date, adding, "they help fill in some blanks on his [Giuliani's] frantic — and unsuccessful — quest to press Ukraine to make statements seen as potentially helpful to the Trump reelection bid."
The Post also reported, "Giuliani's overall goal, according to the accounts, was to have Zelensky's government validate the Trump campaign's unsupported claims — including that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, engaged in corrupt dealings in Ukraine and that then vice president Biden attempted to cover it up."
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