Profile picture
BuzzFeed News
@BuzzFeedNews
, 8 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
EXCLUSIVE: Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, has operated a private foreign back-channel with two unofficial envoys as part of campaign to discredit the president’s Democratic rivals and undermine Robert Mueller’s investigation
buzzfeednews.com/article/mikesa…
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman have repeatedly met with top Ukraine officials and set up meetings for Giuliani to push prosecutors to investigate allegations against Joe Biden, and probe accusations that Ukrainian officials plotted to rig the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton.
They also waged an aggressive campaign in the United States, staying at the Trump International Hotel and meeting with key members of Congress as they joined in a successful push that led to the early removal of the ambassador to Ukraine, after she angered their allies in Kiev.
The two men have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Republican campaigns, including a $325,000 contribution to America First Action PAC. They have visited multiple times with the president and shared breakfast with his son Donald Trump Jr.
The duo has already had an impact. Prosecutors in Kiev announced in March they would investigate the officials accused of rigging the election — a month after meeting with Parnas, Fruman, and Giuliani. Trump called the allegations “incredible” in an interview with Fox News.
A former federal prosecutor said Parnas and Fruman were "playing with fire" by lobbying without registering as foreign agents. The two men say they were not paid for their work and acted on their own initiative.
The pair's contribution to America First Action also faces scrutiny. Records reveal one of Parnas' companies received $1.26 million from a lawyer specializing in real estate and foreign investments. The duo used that money when giving to the PAC, but didn't disclose the source.
Help us reveal more stories like this. Become a BuzzFeed News member today: support.buzzfeednews.com
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to BuzzFeed News
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BuzzFeedNews see all

Profile picture
BuzzFeed News
@BuzzFeedNews
Italy’s deputy PM Matteo Salvini is Europe’s most powerful far-right leader.

We have an explosive recording of Russian operatives and one of Salvini’s aides negotiating a deal to siphon money from a billion-dollar oil deal into Salvini’s far-right party.
buzzfeednews.com/article/albert…
To understand this story, you need to understand that Salvini is the face of resurgent far-right politics in Europe, and the symbol of anti-immigration in Italy.

He has also been a vocal supporter of Vladimir Putin, advocating for the European Union to drop its Russia sanctions.
Six men — 3 Russians, 3 Italians — gathered in the iconic Metropol hotel, nominally to discuss an oil deal.

In the recording, they can be heard negotiating a deal to covertly channel tens of millions of dollars of Russian oil money to Salvini’s party.
buzzfeednews.com/article/albert…
Read 10 tweets
Profile picture
BuzzFeed News
@BuzzFeedNews
For 5 straight months, a Mississippi woman tried to get an abortion every week. By the time she got to the clinic, it was almost too late.

At 21 weeks pregnant, she may be one of the last women able to get an abortion that far along in Arkansas. buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoco…
Many women who have abortions late into their second trimester experienced logistical and financial delays. A.’s experience of trying to have an abortion was full of obstacles that are far from unique for women in the South. buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoco…
Though a fetus cannot survive outside the womb at 21 weeks, Arkansas has a ban on abortion after 22 weeks from a patient’s last period. A new state law banning abortion after 18 weeks of pregnancy is scheduled to go into effect in July.
Read 6 tweets
Profile picture
BuzzFeed News
@BuzzFeedNews
Today we published our yearlong investigation into Tony Robbins’ empire.

During our reporting, lawyers for Robbins worked to shut this story down and made legal threats against two people accused of speaking with us.

Here's more of what happened behind the scenes.
One staffer accused of speaking with us received a letter warning that if he did not retract, his life would be “forever changed.” He also received text messages from a former colleague asking him to pass on information about BuzzFeed News, with the promise of a "reward."
Gary King, Robbins’ former head of security and one of the people we spoke to, was told that he had 48 hours to recant his story or face damages which could “easily be tens of millions of dollars.”
Read 8 tweets

Related threads

Profile picture
Barbara Malmet
@B52Malmet
“He intends to use the power of the presidency to harass his political opponents and create an air of scandal around them. By doing so, he hopes to make at least some voters believe that all politicians are equally corrupt rather than recognizing that Trump himself is the most..”
“corrupt president in a long,
long time.” nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opi…
“Specifically, Trump signaled that he might ask the Attorney General William Barr to investigate Joe Biden’s past dealings with Ukraine. In the same vein, Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, said he wanted to ask Ukraine’s government for help in the investigation.”
Read 3 tweets
Profile picture
Lulu
@LuluLemew
Rudy’s friend Pavel Fuchs 'made threat' after Trump inauguration aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/o…
Pavel Fuchs, a Ukrainian oligarch who negotiated with Trump and reportedly works with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, stands accused of making a threat of violence against a US-based businessman involved in selling him “bad” inauguration seats
Fuchs was furious that two tickets he purchased for $200,000 left him and a Ukrainian member of parliament with bad seats, according to two well-placed sources speaking to Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, a Ukrainian newspaper editor and other journalists.

Um not legal?
Read 25 tweets
Profile picture
Alamo_on_the_rise
@AlamoOnTheRise
Trump: Day 678
-Cohen Reaches Plea Deal w/Mueller
-Moscow Project Ties Trump/Russia
-Planned $50M Penthouse 4 Putin
-Mueller Eyes Don Jr & Ivanka's Work
-Chicago Tax Lawyer's Office Raided
-Deutsche Bank HQ Being Searched
-Tim Scott Buries Farr Nomination
-Heads 2 Argentina 4 G20
Add...
Day 783 since Donald Trump admitted to sexual assault — yet he’s still in the Oval Office
Add...
Day 634 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.

The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Read 73 tweets
Profile picture
Alamo_on_the_rise
@AlamoOnTheRise
Trump: Day 640
-Spouts Lies About Migrant Caravan
-Holds Campaign Rally 4 Lyin' Ted
-Calls Himself a "Nationalist"
-Saudis Had Khashoggi Body Double
-Mnuchin Cozies Up w/Saudi Prince
-SCOTUS Blocks Ross Deposition
-USAF Spent $326k on Coffee Cups
-Bolton Sz Meddling Had No Effect
Add...
Day 745 since Donald Trump admitted to sexual assault — yet he’s still in the Oval Office
Add...
Day 596 of NO EVIDENCE produced by Trump that his phones were tapped by Obama.

The FISA warrant Trump referenced targeted Carter Page. #TrumpLies
Read 57 tweets
Profile picture
NotMyPresident
@ironstowe
Thread

#Trump ties to #Mogilevich , #Tochtachunov and the #Gennovese family
Thread contains declassified @FBI Docs

#Trump #Mogilevich #Tochtachunov #Gennovese #Putin
1.#Trump is closely tied to Semion #Mogilevich, the boss of the Russian Mafia and a hitman of #Putin and Alimzhan #Toktakhounov

#Trump #Mogilevich #Tochtachunov #Gennovese #Putin
2.This is Semion #Mogilevich the Boss of the Russian Mafia.

The Most Dangerous Mobster in the World ozy.com/provocateurs/t… … … … … via @ozy

#Trump #Mogilevich #Tochtachunov #Gennovese #Putin
Read 18 tweets
Profile picture
Grant Stern
@grantstern
Here is Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani meeting with a cult-like Iranian organization called MEK.
The MEK is the Iranian flavor of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. An astroturf grassroots organization.

But they're popular in the Neo-Con community.

Very popular.

huffingtonpost.com/massoud-khodab…
In fact, the MEK's closeness to three people, in particular, was cited here as a potential blackmail situation.

Today they are:

Newt Gingrich - wife is an Ambassador

John Bolton - NSA

Rudy Giuliani - Trump's personal lawyer.

huffingtonpost.com/entry/national…
Read 8 tweets

Trending hashtags

#Bigotry #KremlinAnnex #Florida #Russia #BrendaSnipes #AssangeArrest #HillaryClinton #NeverForget #TrumpLies #BigTexasTailgater #Apprentice #Giuliani #Bloomberg #BackTheBlueVoteRED #Goscomintourist #WikiLeaks #Democrats #Trump #Embassy #Carter #KGB #Leningrad #MAGA #AmericanBank #mypresident
Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!