Giuliani's access to Trump blurred the line between diplomacy and business for Ukrainians

(CNN)When a well-known Ukrainian politician and leading presidential candidate visited Washington, DC, late last year, Rudy Giuliani was ready and willing to meet.

On December 5, 2018, Giuliani spent 45 minutes meeting with former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was looking to make connections to people close to President Donald Trump.

The encounter, which took place at the Willard Hotel, just a five-minute walk from the White House, indicates Ukrainian officials saw Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney, as a valuable link to the American President. It also raises questions as to whether Giuliani's shadow diplomacy efforts over the next year were also an effort to drum up business for his consulting group.

Tymoshenko was hoping Giuliani could broker a meeting with Trump and perhaps even arrange a picture with him, neither of which happened. But a person familiar with their interactions said Giuliani also wanted something in return: business.

Giuliani disputes the purpose of the meeting, which was included in disclosure forms filed by Tymoshenko's lobbyists, telling CNN he never offered to work for Tymoshenko or enter into any sort of business relationship with her.

"She wanted to meet with me because she wanted me to support her for president," Giuliani told CNN. "She probably wanted me to tell the President that she was the best one to win."

His meeting with Tymoshenko highlights how Giuliani was presenting himself as a key point of contact for foreign officials looking for access to the President. One lobbyist told CNN that Giuliani was viewed in the private influence industry as a person who could compete for foreign business -- especially because of how he touted his access to Trump.

In this way, the President's personal attorney appears to be filling the role once occupied by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was a key consultant in Ukrainian politics before he was convicted of tax and bank fraud and admitted to illegal foreign lobbying. There's no indication, however, that Giuliani's meeting with Tymoshenko crossed the line of the foreign lobbying law.

But according to these experts, there are several reasons why the lobbying firm hired by Tymoshenko may have thought otherwise: due to his frequency appearing on TV news networks, and because of his role as a former official, as well as his proximity to the President.

Her interlocuters ranged from government officials to political scholars. She sat in on roundtable discussions at think tanks, visited members of Congress including Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and interacted with State Department officials. Though Tymoshenko did not visit with White House staff, according to the filings, then-Trump chief of staff John Kelly and an assistant for Ivanka Trump had discussed her trip to Washington several times with her handlers.

The meeting she had with Giuliani also sticks out in the way it's described in the disclosure forms filed by her lobbying firm, the Livingston Group. It's the only one described as an "occasion to introduce" Tymoshenko to Giuliani, giving it an air of informality.

told The Washington Post Giuliani has never registered as a foreign lobbyist. But in the years since leaving New York City Hall in 2002, he has had plenty of foreign clients -- including in Ukraine. Through his firm Giuliani Partners, he has performed security consulting in foreign countries. He told The Washington Post in 2018 that he had such clients in Brazil and Colombia, "among other countries."

In 2018, Giuliani was facing several challenges. His third wife, Judith, had filed for divorce in April, which he is still contesting in court. A month later, Giuliani was dropped from his position at Greenberg Traurig, a major law firm. As the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference continued, Trump had added Giuliani to his legal team, work that Giuliani continues to say he does pro bono.

During his trip, Giuliani, a prosecutor before he became New York's mayor in the 1990s, delivered a speech about traffic safety and the rule of law. Kharkov has released a photograph of Giuliani arriving, stepping out of what appears to be a private jet.

Giuliani told CNN he no longer works for Kernes or the city of Kharkov. He is more circumspect about his efforts last year to find more clients in Ukraine, and was insistent Thursday about the nature of his December meeting with Tymoshenko.

Source: CNN

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