Justice Dept. Will Accept Material From Giuliani, but Barr Voices Caution

Mr. Giuliani would not comment Monday on whether he had shared any information with the Justice Department, but he rejected questions about the credibility of what he had collected. “My information checks out 10 ways to Sunday,” he wrote in a text message, asserting that he had obtained four or five “unquestionably true documents” relating to the Bidens’ work in Ukraine.

“More is getting discovered as we speak,” he added.

In the past, the Justice Department has distanced itself from Mr. Giuliani. In September, a spokeswoman said that Mr. Barr had “not discussed anything relating to Ukraine” with Mr. Giuliani.

And a spokesman has said that Brian A. Benczkowski, the assistant attorney general for the department’s criminal division, would not have included Mr. Giuliani in an August meeting about a bribery case had he known that federal prosecutors in New York were investigating two of Mr. Giuliani’s associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

Mr. Parnas and Mr. Fruman were charged weeks after the meeting with violating campaign finance laws to try to unlawfully influence politicians, including former Representative Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas.

Mr. Giuliani had worked with the two men last year to collect information about — and advance investigations into — targets of Mr. Trump, including Mr. Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Biden was the Obama administration’s point man in pushing anti-corruption initiatives in Ukraine.

Democrats on Monday raised questions about the arrangement, suggesting that it posed a potential conflict of interest for Mr. Barr given the department’s ongoing investigation of Mr. Giuliani’s associates. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York and the House Judiciary Committee chairman, called it “a significant departure from those traditional channels.” In a letter to the attorney general, he demanded to know how the “intake process” would work and who had vetted it.

“Whether or not you are in league with Mr. Giuliani and his associates, D.O.J. guidelines and regulations exist to protect you and the department from even the appearance of a conflict of interest or any impropriety,” Mr. Nadler wrote. “Given your creation of a new ‘intake process’ for Mr. Giuliani, it is all the more important that you provide a complete explanation for your decision to sidestep standard department practice.”

Source link