Another investigation into possible tampering in the 2020 election by Ukrainian officials is underway. This probe, which is coming out of Brooklyn is trying to determine if the suspects used former President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as a vehicle to spread misinformation about then-candidate Joe Biden, sources told the New York Times.
This criminal investigation has not been previously reported, according to the Times.
The probe began during the Trump administration’s lame-duck session after Biden won the presidential election. It’s emblematic of the federal government’s increasingly aggressive approach to weed out foreign interference in our elections. Russian intelligence is a key focus of the government. A member of the Ukrainian parliament named Andriy Derkach, suspected of having close ties to top intelligence officials in Moscow, is reportedly a key focus of the investigation.
This probe is on a separate track from a federal inquiry in Manhattan that is aimed squarely at Mr. Giuliani. Sources for the Times’ story say the two investigations have several people who overlap, but that Giuliani is not a subject of the Brooklyn investigation.
Brooklyn prosecutors as well as the F.B.I., are focused on whether current and former Ukrainian officials tried to influence the election by spreading false claims of corruption about Biden through various channels. One of those channels is reportedly Giuliani, who was one of the most vocal supporters of the false accusations Trump and his followers spread about Biden and his son during the campaign season.
No word yet on any pending charges.