The Ukrainian Government has just implicated three Giuliani allies in a plot to help Russia meddle in the 2020 United States presidential election.
The citizenship of two of the Giuliani allies is unknown, while the other is an American born in Germany. They are accused of developing a plan for letting a Ukrainian legislator, Andriy Derkach, organize a disinformation campaign against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his U.S. sponsor Joe Biden.
The plot was revealed by the Ukraine state security service in a document containing a series of five allegations, which said that the three men had “carried out a series of criminal acts that represent a gross intervention in the election of the President of the United States.”
The document also said that the three Giuliani allies had attempted to “spread criminal materials among U.S. politicians, law enforcement and civil society organizations in order to discredit the presidential candidate Joe Biden” by using “false information, fake documents and other means of unlawful influence.”
The document also recommended further investigation and possible criminal prosecution.
Derkach, whom Kyiv has designated as an “agent of a foreign power,” allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the allies and promised to use his connections in the US and Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden and push the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian president confirmed the contents of the document was correct, adding that Zelensky’s government was determined to combat foreign interference in the US presidential election.
The three unnamed Giuliani allies have not commented on the allegations and it is unclear if they have received support from the former New York mayor.
However, Giuliani himself has claimed that the investigation is part of an effort to discredit his Ukraine-related work ahead of the 2020 election.
The US government has taken a cautious approach to the whole debacle, saying it needs to “fully understand” the situation before making any action.
It is likely the US Department of Justice will investigate the situation more closely and take action quickly if criminal behavior is uncovered.
The involvement of the Giuliani allies could have significant implications for the upcoming presidential election and it is yet another example of an outside force attempting to influence the outcome of the US election.
It remains to be seen what impact, if any, this particular attempt by alleged agents of a foreign power will have on the 2020 US election, but it certainly serves as a timely reminder that action needs to be taken to protect the integrity of the electoral process.