Thread by @anders_aslund

The whistleblower's report helps us understand Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko's strange lies.
1. "Giuliani had met on at least two occasions with Mr. Lutsenko: once in New York in late January and again in Warsaw in mid-February."
nytimes.com/interactive/20…

2. "Beginning in late March 2019, a series of articles appeared in an online publication called The Hill. ...Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko — made a series of allegations against other Ukrainian officials and current and former U.S. officials."

3. The point is that Lutsenko's strange lies about VP Biden & US Ambassador Yovanovitch were PLANTED by Giuliani. Lutsenko tried to leverage his relationship with Giuliani (=Trump) in order to stay on as prosecutor general under @ZelenskyyUa.

4. "On 11 May, Mr. Lutsenko met for two hours with President-elect Zelenskyy..." The talk of town in Kyiv was that Lutsenko was trying to stay on & this was seriously considered. @ZelenskyyUa did sack Lutsenko, but the Rada refused to accept it.

5. "Mr. Lutsenko later told Ukrainian news outlet The Babel on 17 April that Ambassador Yovanovitch had never provided such a list, and that he was, in fact, the one who requested such a list."

6. "Mr. Lutsenko later told Bloomberg on 16 May that former Vice President Biden and his son were not subject to any current Ukrainian investigations, and that he had no evidence against them."

7. Although Lutsenko withdrew all his lies that Giuliani seemingly had inspired, he could not save himself. On August 29, the newly-elected Rada sacked Lutsenko, who was generally considered corrupt, at its first session.

8. The essence of the Giuliani-Lutsenko story is that Giuliani persuaded a corrupt prosecutor general in Ukraine to lie about prominent US citizens to the political benefit of Trump & his own pecuniary benefit. Does the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) apply?

9. Obviously, Giuliani operated at the instruction of Trump. What crimes did they commit?

10. Questions remain:
Did Giuliani try to force Lutsenko on Zelenskyy to safeguard corruption in Ukraine?
Did Giuliani & Trump work for Putin against Ukraine, Europe & the US? (=treason)
Who paid Giuliani for this, how much & has he declared it to the IRS?

11. The strange articles in The Hill appear that were publicized by Sean Hannity on Foxnews & Donald Trump Jr in a tweet appear in a new light. They were all involved in the Giuliani disinformation conspiracy about Biden & Yovanovitch. This should be a crime.

12. The big lessons @ZelenskyyUa needs to draw from his unfortunate encounters with Trump are that Trump always lies & stands on Putin's side against Ukraine, Europe & the US. Zelenskyy has little choice but to act with all US forces BUT Trump with a maximum of transparency.

13. The ultimate verdict is that the Giuliani conspiracy in Ukraine is not only criminal but also more sophisticated than one could have expected. Presumably the Trump gang operates in a similar fashion in other favorite parts of the world, such as Israel & Saudi Arabia.