Giuliani's associates allegedly pressed Ukraine's previous president to launch investigations in exchange for a White House visit


Two associates of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani reached out to the previous Ukrainian government as early as February in the hopes of getting Kyiv to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Ukrainian-American businessmen who were clients of Giuliani and allegedly aided him in his quest to investigate the Bidens, reportedly sat down with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the offices of then-Ukranian general prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko. This meeting came after Fruman, Parnas, Giuliani, and Lutsenko met in New York in January and Warsaw, Poland, in February.
At the meeting, Parnas and Fruman allegedly offered a White House visit in exchange for Poroshenko launching the investigation into the Bidens and alleged 2016 election meddling. Poroshenko, who eventually lost his re-election bid to President Volodymyr Zelensky, could have used the White House visit to boost his candidacy, the Journal notes. "[Poroshenko] wanted to come to Washington and meet with Trump and then after the state dinner he would have an interview," one of the sources told the Journal. "Then he would say he would investigate meddling in 2016 and the Bidens."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
None of that came to fruition, however, and it turned out to be Zelensky's government that got caught up in the Trump impeachment saga. But the Journal points out that the reports of the Poroshenko meeting, if true, show that Giuliani's associates were in contact with Ukraine's president earlier than previously thought. Giuliani's lawyer said Giuliani was not aware of the meeting, and none of the other parties involved responded to requests for comment. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges
-
Germany lifts Kyiv missile limits as Trump, Putin spar
speed read Russia's biggest drone and missile attacks of the war prompted Trump to post that Putin 'has gone absolutely CRAZY!'
-
Tied Supreme Court blocks church charter school
speed read The court upheld the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision to bar overtly religious public charter schools
-
GOP megabill would limit judicial oversight of Trump
speed read The domestic policy bill Republicans pushed through the House would protect the Trump administration from the consequences of violating court orders