Legal experts weigh in on Giuliani's 'jaw-dropping' deal with Ukrainian oligarch: 'Explicit, criminal corruption'

Rudy Giuliani’s name has come up many times during the public testimony for the House impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, often confirming that in Ukraine, the Trump attorney and former New York City mayor aggressively pushed for an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden. And some more information about Giuliani surfaced on Monday, when the New York Times reported that Dmitri Firtash — a Ukrainian oligarch facing criminal charges in the U.S. — had told the publication that Giuliani and two of his associates (Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman) offered to use their U.S. Justice Department connections to help him. And in return, Firtash alleged, they wanted dirt on the Bidens.

Firtash, according to the Times, alleged that when he met with Parnas and Fruman in June, they offered to help him and wanted him to hire attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing — both Trump supporters — to represent him.

On Twitter, Giuliani has flatly denied Firtash’s allegation — posting, “I did not ask anyone to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and certainly not with Dimitry Firtash, who I have never met or talked to.”

Chuck Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor, told the Times, “It is even worse if Mr. Giuliani, either directly or through emissaries acting on his behalf, intimated that pending criminal cases can be ‘fixed’ at the Justice Department. The president’s lawyer seems to be trading on the president’s supervisory authority over the Justice Department, and that is deeply disturbing.”

Other legal experts have been weighing in on the Times’ report and Firtash’s allegation about Giuliani. Mimi Rocah, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted, “Even for this administration, this is next level, explicit, criminal corruption.”

Another former federal prosecutor, Joyce White Vance, tweeted, “If true, this is jaw dropping. Of course, it didn’t work out; so, perhaps it was just fluffing. But we need to know more.”

Attorney David Colapinto said of the Times’ article, “Interesting report. If true, $1.2 million paid by a fugitive oligarch to Joe diGenova & Victoria Toensing is more than what Hunter Biden allegedly was paid to serve on board of Burisma. Will Fox News hosts ask them about this next time they appear to trash the #Whistleblower?”