The Trump administration just keeps presenting us with twists that, in a political satire, would be deemed far too on-the-nose.
Two associates of President Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, were arrested Wednesday and indicted for campaign finance violations, being detained just before they were about to leave the country with one-way tickets. Giuliani reportedly met with the associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, for lunch the day of their arrest.
We're now learning more about Giuliani's relationship with the two men, with whom he reportedly worked to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and attempt to undermine former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 election interference. The New York Times reports a company Parnas co-founded retained Giuliani's services last year, paying him, Parnas has told associates, "hundreds of thousands of dollars."
The name of that company? Fraud Guarantee.
Fraud Guarantee is, the Times reports, a fraud prevention and mitigation company, although giving it that name when you're allegedly going around committing campaign finance violations is perhaps not the world's absolute best idea. In a classic Giuliani move, the Times writes Giuliani "at first seemed to acknowledge having advised Fraud Guarantee in 2018, then backtracked."
"I can't acknowledge it's Fraud Guarantee, I don't think," Giuliani said. "I can acknowledge I gave them substantial business advice." Giuliani also wouldn't say to the Times he regrets working with Parnas and Fruman despite their indictment, asking, "Who else would I have turned to?"