Giuliani Associates Pressured Ukrainian Government to Steer Contracts Towards Trump Allies

Rudy Giuliani Speaking at a forum titled “Countering Iran’s Nuclear Terrorist Threats.” Photo by Gage Skidmore

Associates of President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani pressured the government of Ukraine to replace the head of Naftogaz, Ukraine's state-run gas and oil company. Their goal: line the pockets of President Trump's allies.

At the same time, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry was also pressing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "to install a friendlier management team" at Naftogaz.

Both claims were first reported by the Associated Press, who stated multiple sources confirmed their reporting.

The businessmen associated with the President and Mr. Giuliani's aim was to steer valuable contracts "to companies controlled by Trump allies." It is not known whether these Trump allies coordinated with Mr. Perry's push to replace members of Naftogaz, or if they acted separately.

Yesterday, Politico reported about Secretary Perry's involvement, writing, "Perry pushed for Ukraine’s state-owned natural gas company Naftogaz to expand its board to include Americans."

Further, "two longtime energy executives based in Perry’s home state of Texas were among those under consideration for that role."

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.  Photo by Gage Skidmore

This comes as Mr. Trump is facing an impeachment inquiry for a phone call between himself and the new President of Ukraine. In July, Mr. Trump told President Zelenskiy that he wanted him to look into a debunked conspiracy theory that Vice President Biden had pushed Ukraine to fire a prosecutor who was supposedly looking into his son, Hunter.

There is no evidence that Joe Biden pressured the government of Ukraine because of his son and the Ukrainian government has also stated that Hunter Biden did nothing wrong.

Nonetheless, the President wanted an investigation into one of his chief political rivals. Ambassador Yovanovitch pushed back against this idea, and was, in part, fired because of it.