Documents provided to Congress by State Department came from Rudy Giuliani

Congressional aides on Wednesday received a packet of documents related to Ukraine that one lawmaker described as "amateurish," and it turns out some of the material came straight from Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, confirmed his involvement with CNN on Wednesday night. The documents included allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. All of these people were mentioned during Trump's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A person with knowledge of the matter said Giuliani first handed the documents over to the White House, and they were then passed along to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose subordinate gave them to the State Department.

The State Department's inspector general on Tuesday told Congress he wanted to have an urgent briefing with congressional staffers about the Ukraine call, and he met with staffers and one congressman, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), on Wednesday. Raskin told reporters that what they received was "essentially a packet of propaganda and disinformation spreading conspiracy theories," and it felt like a "completely irrelevant distraction." Read more about the documents at CNN.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up