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- The FBI probe of Rudy Giuliani centers on the firing of the US ambassador to Ukraine, per the NYT.
- Agents are searching Giuliani’s electronic devices for evidence, after seizing them in a 6 a.m. raid.
- The firing of Marie Yovanovitch was scrutinized in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The FBI probe into Rudy Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine is focused on the 2019 firing of Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
A source told the publication that federal agents are scouring Giuliani’s electronic devices for communications between Giuliani and the Trump administration about Yovanovitch’s firing in May 2019.
They are also examining his communications with Ukrainian officials hostile to Yovanovitch, according to the report.
The devices were seized by federal agents in a raid on Giuliani’s Manhattan offices and apartment Wednesday. Giuliani described answering the door at 6 a.m. to agents who searched the property looking for electronic devices.
They are seeking to establish if Giuliani was working on behalf of Ukrainian individuals when he lobbied the administration over the firing.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Giuliani denied any wrongdoing.
“I’ve never represented a Ukrainian national or official before the United States government,” Giuliani said.
The firing of Yovanovitch was one of the key events that resulted in Trump’s first impeachment.
Giuliani had been dispatched to Ukraine in 2019 by President Donald Trump, whom he was working for as a private attorney.
Giuliani was looking material on Hunter Biden, son of Joe Biden, then Democratic presidential candidate. Hunter Biden had been employed at a Ukrainian energy firm when his father was vice president.
Giuliani lobbied for Yovanovitch’s firing, claiming that she was disrupting his probe.
Giuliani’s ties with Ukrainian officials seeking to help his Hunter Biden search have come under scrutiny. US intelligence officials are said to believe that some of Giuliani’s contacts may have been Russian agents pushing disinformation about the Bidens.
The bid to uncover damaging information on the Bidens in Ukraine led to Trump’s first impeachment. Democrats claimed that the former president abused power in pressuring the Ukrainian president to lend credibility to the accusations by announcing an investigation into them.
Trump was acquitted in January 2020 by the Senate, which was then controlled by Republicans.
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