KYIV, Ukraine -- President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani met Thursday in Ukraine with a key figure working to build a corruption case against Hunter Biden, the Ukraine lawmaker said, after posting pictures on Facebook of himself with the former New York mayor.
Andriy Derkach said he pressed Giuliani on the need to set up a joint U.S.-Ukraine investigation into corruption in Ukraine at the meeting in Kyiv. Derkach also vowed to set up an anti-corruption group in the Ukraine parliament.
Giuliani did not make any public comments on the meetings in Ukraine.
But, in tweets hours later, Giuliani drew connections between future U.S. aid and investigations by Ukraine into former Vice President Joe Biden -- issues that are already at the center of the impeachment inquiry.
Giuliani tweeted that U.S. assistance to Ukraine on anti-corruption overhaul could face a "major obstacle" until the "conversation about corruption in Ukraine" is resolved. Giuliani alleged "compelling" evidence of criminal misdeeds by Biden, but he gave no specifics.
The New York Times, which first reported Giuliani's travels, said he had meetings in Budapest and Kyiv this week to meet current and former Ukrainian officials for a documentary.
Derkach noted that their meeting was filmed by "some kind of American television company" but offered no further details.
"Rudolph Giuliani has arrived in Kyiv. We met up immediately to discuss the establishment of the Friends of Ukraine STOP Corruption interparliamentary group," Derkach said in a Facebook post.
Derkach, an independent lawmaker who was formerly a member of a pro-Russia party in parliament, went to the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB in Moscow. He is the son of a KGB officer who later served as head of Ukrainian intelligence.
Derkach wrote that Giuliani could help bring experts, journalists and analysts to investigate corruption in Ukraine and "benefit strategic relations between Kyiv and the United States."
Derkach said he had sent letters Tuesday to key Republicans including Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Rep. Devin Nunes of California and White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, seeking their participation.
He said their involvement would help expose the ineffective use of U.S. tax dollars by Ukrainian authorities.
"We sent our proposal. We're waiting for a reaction, an answer. We're waiting to see how much this is something that the congressmen and senators are in need of. If they want to work together, we're ready," Derkach said.
Derkach said he handed Giuliani documents outlining allegations relating to inefficient expenditure of U.S. government money on projects in Ukraine and other matters.
The documents do not specifically mention the Bidens. But Derkach makes reference to the energy company Burisma, of which Hunter Biden was a board member.
Right-wing network One America News announced Tuesday that it was conducting a "special investigation" with Giuliani, flying three Ukrainian officials to the United States and "debunking [Adam] Schiff's impeachment narrative."
Schiff, D-Calif., chaired the House Intelligence Committee that handed down a report concluding that Trump sought to undermine U.S. democracy and endangered national security.
Derkach did not state whether the TV crew with Giuliani was from One America News.
Derkach and another parliamentary deputy, Oleksandr Dubinsky, called a news conference last month in Kyiv announcing plans to establish an investigative committee of the Ukrainian parliament, claiming corruption by top Ukrainian political figures and Burisma.
The company is at the heart of the impeachment investigation, with allegations that Trump withheld military aid to press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to open corruption investigations that could have damaged Joe Biden, a potential rival in next year's presidential election.
Derkach has previously led calls to investigate the Bidens and alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. In 2017, he wrote a letter to the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office, demanding an investigation into alleged interference in the elections by Ukrainian officials to hamper Trump's campaign, claiming this had "seriously damaged Ukraine-American relations."
Information for this article was contributed by Colby Itkowitz of The Washington Post.
A Section on 12/06/2019