Senators requested FARA review of Giuliani one year ago, but DOJ never responded
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) , and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) again requested that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Security Division immediately review whether President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, is in compliance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), given the multiple public reports of Giuliani’s consulting and public relations work on behalf of foreign entities.
The senators’ request – made one-year after they originally requested a review of Giuliani’s FARA compliance, which DOJ never responded to – comes as reports indicate President Trump has “empowered” Giuliani “to exploit the U.S. relationship with Kiev” as part of President Trump’s effort to pressure the president of Ukraine to open an investigation into President Trump’s political rival, according to the Washington Post . In the White House’s recently-released summary of the phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President Trump pushed Zelensky to coordinate with Giuliani in opening an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son.
“Notably, recent reports regarding Mr. Giuliani’s efforts to pressure the government of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden’s son to benefit the President’s reelection also raise serious additional questions about the legality of his work as a foreign agent while also representing and working on behalf the President regarding official U.S. policy,” the senators wrote today . “Like any other American, Mr. Giuliani has legal obligations to report his work on behalf of foreign clients, and the Department of Justice should not give him preferential treatment or exempt him from his obligation just because he is the President’s personal attorney.”
“In a September 6, 2018 letter, we requested that – given Mr. Giuliani’s political and public relations activities on behalf of foreign governments and interests – the Department review whether he had an obligation to register any undisclosed political activities, had any delinquent filings, or had any deficiencies or abnormalities in his registration statements,” the senators said . “Since this request, we have received no formal response from the Department. In the meantime Mr. Giuliani has continued to engage in activities on behalf of foreign governments and interests while at the same time continuing to communicate with senior U.S. government officials and foreign leaders in his capacity as the President’s personal attorney.”
The senators detailed public reports establishing Giuliani’s work on behalf of foreign entities – even as he “pursued [a] shadow Ukraine agenda” for the Trump administration – including that Giuliani headlined a pro-Russian conference in Armenia, met with the King of Bahrain to discuss “topics of joint interests,” traveled to Albania to speak about potential regime change in Iran with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a group formerly designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government, and appeared at another MEK sponsored event in Warsaw.
The full text of the senators’ letter is available here .
