NEW: Federal investigators executed a search warrant on Wednesday at RUDY GIULIANI’s NYC apartment, seizing his electronic devices.
It’s a sign that the criminal investigation is ramping up into his dealings in Ukraine, including whether he violated FARA. nytimes.com/2021/04/28/nyr…
UPDATE: @FBI also executed a search warrant at the home of @VicToensing, a lawyer who worked with GIULIANI on the BIDEN dirt-digging campaign.
She had dealt with, & discussed representing, YURIY LUTSENKO, the Ukrainian prosecutor who provided info to Rudy nytimes.com/2021/04/28/nyr…
A spokesman for @VicToensing tells me she's been informed "she is a not a target of the investigation.”
*When I initially revealed TOENSING's involvement in the Ukrainian dirt-digging, GIULIANI described her as LUTSENKO's lawyer, but he later backtracked. nytimes.com/2019/05/09/us/…
RUDY GIULIANI tried to get the @FBI agents who searched his home to take "the Hunter Biden hard drives ... but the agents steadfastly declined," according to a statement tonight from Giuliani's lawyer, BOB COSTELLO. rudygiulianics.com/2021/04/28/sta…
GIULIANI's lawyer also notes that prosecutors were previously denied a search warrant for his devices from @TheJusticeDept under TRUMP, before being granted a warrant by BIDEN's DOJ.
But Giuliani's lawyer casts this reversal as a condemnation of MERRICK GARLAND, not BILL BARR.
BIDEN says he was not briefed on the search warrants executed at RUDY GIULIANI's home & office.
Government watchdogs should call out transparency & influence concerns regardless of partisan affiliation.
@POGOwatchdog has exemplified this, flagging links between BIDEN's inner circle & shadowy consultancies like WESTEXEC as emblematic of the DC swamp. pogo.org/topics/legaliz…
.@POGOwatchdog has asserted WestExec "circumvents" lobbying disclosure laws, "sells influence & connections” & called it “disappointing” that Biden tapped so many WestExec alumni “because I thought the message was clear … that the swamp is unacceptable & it’s time for a change.”
So it’s puzzling to see @POGOwatchdog’s Senior Ethics Fellow @waltshaub accusing me of being a partisan for using the words “Dem Swamp” to describe WestExec’s merger with another opaque corporate consultancy (@Teneo) that grew out of its ties to Clinton.
.@BernieSanders to @neeratanden: “Your attacks were not just made against Republicans. There were vicious attacks made against progressives, people who I have worked with — me personally… Can you reflect a little bit about some of your decisions…?”
For reference: in 2008, @NeeraTanden, then a top @HillaryClinton aide, punched @fshakir in the chest after he asked Clinton about her Iraq war vote.
Neera’s reaponse: “I didn’t slug him, I pushed him.”
NEW: ALAN DERSHOWITZ helped craft & push proposals for GEORGE NADER to be released from a 10-year sentence (for child pornography/sex trafficking) & returned to the U.A.E. (on an Emirate jet) so he could play a role in backchannel Middle East peace talks. nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/…
GEORGE NADER's allies believed @AlanDersh was pushing for clemency from TRUMP.
DERSHOWITZ says that was a small part of his work for Nader, who didn't get out.
But the episode shows how DERSHOWITZ was sought after by people seeking relief from TRUMP. nytimes.com/2021/02/08/us/…
ALAN DERSHOWITZ used his access to lobby TRUMP for clemency for clients, & played a role in at least 12 clemency grants, including JONATHAN BRAUN.
SHELDON ADELSON was portrayed as a master political manipulator.
But his giving was often feckless & driven by relationships.
When I asked why he was funding a @newtgingrich '12 super PAC, he said “I’m just a loyal guy," then compared NEWT's ill-fated campaign to a steak dinner
That interview (which was in my book) came after @maggieNYT & I wrote for @politico that ADELSON had committed to donating $20M to a super PAC supporting GINGRICH's 2012 campaign.
NEW: Allies of @WikiLeaks founder JULIAN ASSANGE have ramped up a push for a last-minute pardon from TRUMP, filing a clemency petition with the WH & enlisting a lobbyist with connections to the administration, ROBERT STRYK. nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/…
The Australia-based press freedom group @BPFreeSpeech retained ROBERT STRYK to seek a pardon for JULIAN ASSANGE.
Stryk says he is working for free "in solidarity with Julian Assange" & will continue seeking a pardon under BIDEN, if TRUMP doesn't grant it. nytimes.com/2021/01/10/us/…
NEW DOCUMENT: The pardon petition filed by JULIAN ASSANGE’s lawyer.
It seems tailored for TRUMP, highlighting revelations in the @DNC hack & noting Assange's prosecution stems from publishing material related to "wars initiated by a prior administration." int.nyt.com/data/documentt…
NEW: BIDEN's inaugural is forgoing fossil fuel $, but liberal groups want the ban expanded to "all major corporate sectors" to prevent them "from wielding undue influence."
The BIDEN inaugural committee's "drive to raise so much $ without a clear use for it is perplexing & the appearance of doing so is disconcerting, as we must strive to stamp out the unfettered corruption that has defined the TRUMP era," wrote liberal groups s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress…