Trump’s Justice Department asked to block search of Giuliani archives

During the last months of the Trump administration, senior Justice Department officials have repeatedly sought to prevent Manhattan federal prosecutors from taking a crucial step in their investigation into Rudolph W. Giuliani’s transactions in Ukraine, delaying a search warrant for some of Mr. Giuliani’s electronic files, according to people with knowledge of the case.

The actions of politicians at the Washington Department of Justice effectively slowed down the investigation as it gained momentum over the past year.

In the final months of 2020, prosecutors were still grappling with whether Mr. Giuliani illegally pressured the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs who helped him search for dirt in 2019 on Joseph. R. Biden Jr., then a Democratic Candidate leader, people said.

Mr. Giuliani has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Robert J. Costello, declined to comment on “media speculation” on Wednesday.

Unfailingly loyal to former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Giuliani has been a central figure in both the former president’s indictments, working first on behalf of Mr. Trump in Ukraine and then as the head of ‘a campaign to overturn the results of the elections that ended in January. 6 rally shortly before Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol.

Last summer, prosecutors and FBI agents in Manhattan prepared to apply for the search warrant for Mr. Giuliani’s files related to his efforts in Ukraine, said the people, who spoke under the guise of l anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

But first, Manhattan investigators had to brief Washington Department of Justice officials, who must be consulted about search warrants involving attorneys over fears that prosecutors may inadvertently obtain confidential communications with client. The mandate for Mr. Giuliani was particularly sensitive because of his most important client – Mr. Trump.

While career Justice Department officials in Washington have largely supported the search warrant, senior officials have expressed concern that the warrant will be issued too close to the election, people familiar with the search said. the question.

In the 60 days leading up to an election, the Justice Department typically tries to avoid taking aggressive investigative steps that could affect the outcome of the vote if the actions were to become public.

Manhattan prosecutors have told Washington officials that they initially raised the idea this summer, before the 60-day deadline, people said. And after the election, prosecutors tried again.

But even then, political appointments from Mr. Trump’s Justice Department, including officials from the Assistant Attorney General’s office at the time, did not approve, noting that Mr. Trump still disputed the results of the elections in several states – a legal effort led by Mr. Giuliani, the people said.

The opposition criticized both Manhattan prosecutors and some career officials in Washington, who questioned whether senior officials are treating all politically sensitive investigations the same after the election. While Manhattan prosecutors have consistently opposed the review of Mr. Giuliani’s files, federal prosecutors in Delaware have been allowed to issue subpoenas for a tax investigation into Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

And while the political appointees were skeptical that there was enough evidence to indict Mr Giuliani, the career officials involved believed there was sufficient reason to believe the search would reveal evidence of a felony, the legal standard for obtaining a warrant.

Ultimately, senior officials in Washington offered to postpone a decision on the subpoena until the Biden administration took over. It is not known whether prosecutors have obtained a warrant since Mr Biden was sworn in.

The episode was not the only time Mr. Trump’s Justice Department attempted to intervene in a politically sensitive investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, one of the prosecutor’s offices. the most independent in the country. In June, Mr. Trump sacked bureau chief Geoffrey S. Berman, who has overseen a number of investigations into Mr. Trump’s allies, including Stephen K. Bannon.

CNN first reported on Wednesday that the potential search warrant met with resistance from Justice Department officials in Washington who questioned the strength of the evidence against Giuliani. In December, NBC News reported that Manhattan prosecutors had considered making a legal request for Mr. Giuliani’s electronic communications.

Mr Giuliani’s investigation focused on his dealings with Ukrainian officials and oligarchs who claimed to have damaging information about Mr Biden’s son Hunter, who was a board member of an energy company Ukrainian, people said.

As part of that goal, federal prosecutors in Manhattan examined Mr. Giuliani’s connections to Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch who is under investigation in the United States, according to documents and people with knowledge of the matter.

In the hope of avoiding extradition to the United States, Mr Firtash hired two lawyers close to Mr Giuliani to advocate his case at the highest levels of the Department of Justice, while Mr Giuliani requested the ‘Helping Mr. Firtash to gather negative information about the Bidens, these people said.

It is unclear whether the investigation will result in charges against Mr Giuliani, a former New York mayor and former United States attorney in charge of the same office which is currently reviewing his conduct.

Although Mr Giuliani has not been charged with wrongdoing, he remains vulnerable to federal scrutiny as Mr Trump left office last month without granting him a pardon, despite months of speculation that Mr Giuliani could benefit from preventive leniency.

Before Mr. Trump issued a wave of forgiveness on the last day of his tenure, Mr. Giuliani said on his radio show that he did not need a pardon. “I don’t commit crimes,” he said.

In the last few weeks of the Trump administration, Mr. Giuliani has spoken with associates about whether he should ask for forgiveness before he ultimately chooses not to, said two people with direct knowledge of the discussions. .

The White House prosecutor’s office had warned against Mr Giuliani’s preventive pardon, one of the people said, as it could raise questions about whether he needed leniency for his involvement in the January 6 rally, at the center of Mr. Trump’s current one. impeachment trial. It is not known if federal prosecutors in Washington investigating the riot are also reviewing Mr Giuliani’s speech at the rally.

In Manhattan, the federal investigation into Mr. Giuliani grew out of a case against two men of Soviet descent, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who aided his mission in Ukraine.

Even before his job for Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani had business in Ukraine, including a contract in 2017 to help the city of Kharkiv improve its emergency services and strengthen its image as an investment destination. The deal was arranged by Pavel Fuks, a wealthy Ukrainian-Russian developer who said Mr Giuliani was hired to lobby for the city, a claim Mr Giuliani denies.

Manhattan prosecutors have examined Mr. Giuliani’s relationship with Mr. Fuks, those briefed on the matter said.

Manhattan prosecutors also questioned at least one witness who testified before Congress during Mr. Trump’s impeachment proceedings as part of the review of Mr. Giuliani’s potential business dealings in Ukraine and his role in making pressure on the Trump administration to oust the US ambassador to Kiev.

While pressuring Ukraine to investigate Mr. Trump’s political rivals, Mr. Giuliani became obsessed with the removal of the ambassador, which he saw as an obstacle to those efforts. At the urging of Mr. Giuliani and other Republicans, Mr. Trump ultimately impeached Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, a move that was at the heart of the first impeachment trial.

Mr Giuliani said he acted as Mr Trump’s attorney, but federal prosecutors in Manhattan examined whether he was also secretly working for Ukrainian officials or oligarchs who wanted the ambassador to leave for their sake. own reasons, according to people informed on the matter.

Under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, it is a federal crime to attempt to influence or pressure the United States government at the request or direction of a foreign official without disclosing it. at the Ministry of Justice.

Yuriy Lutsenko, one of the officials who urged Giuliani and his associates to fight for the removal of the ambassador, aided their Ukrainian search mission. And at the same time, Mr. Giuliani has sued hundreds of thousands of dollars in Mr. Lutsenko’s business, a potential deal that has caught the attention of prosecutors and the FBI. Mr Giuliani said he refused the deal.

Maggie Haberman, Kenneth P. Vogel, Andrew Kramer, Maria Varenikova, Benjamin Weiser and Nicole Hong contributed reporting.