US Prosecutors Probing if Ukrainian Officials Meddled in 2020 Election – Report

In May 2020, Ukrainian lawmaker Derkach publicly disclosed the first in a series of audio recordings of alleged 2016 private phone discussions between Biden, then-VP, and Petro Poroshenko, then-president of Ukraine, linking the future US president to a corruption scheme, allegedly to undermine Biden’s presidential campaign.

US federal prosecutors are investigating whether Ukrainians meddled in the 2020 presidential election, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Giuliani is not a target in this investigation, but he is part of a separate criminal probe looking into his dealings in Ukraine, the report said. According to the undisclosed sources, the authorities looked into a trip Giuliani conducted to Europe in December 2019, during which he spoke with several Ukrainians. And at least one of the current and former officials Giuliani met, Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament, is now a subject of the inquiry.

The former president was reportedly informed by US intelligence that the information disseminated by Derkach was unreliable, as a result of which the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Ukrainian member of parliament for “election interference”, accusing him of being “an active Russian agent.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, and US Vice President Joe Biden prior their statement to the media at the Presidential Administration Building in Kiev. File photo

The former NYC mayor’s lawyer is quoted in the article as saying that “some day the truth will come out,” in regard to Biden’s involvement in Ukraine.

Last month, prosecutors raided Giuliani’s home and office under a warrant alleging a breach of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for failing to register as a foreign agent on behalf of an unnamed Ukrainian politician. Giuliani and his lawyer claimed they contacted officials at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and offered to give records to prove the opposite. Officials at the SDNY, on the other hand, refused to allow him to do so.

Over the last year, Derkach released several audio tapes containing alleged phone talks between Biden and Poroshenko, which, according to the Ukrainian lawmaker, proved Biden and his son Hunter engage in corruption. Later, the Treasury Department responded to the publications by accusing Derkach of leaking “edited audiotapes and other unsupported information.”

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the president’s son, is facing a federal criminal tax investigation that appears to be partly tied to work he did in Ukraine.

Sourse: sputniknews.com