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Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was being paid by a global consulting firm when he sent a letter to the president of Romania last week that contradicted the U.S. government’s official position, politico.eu reports.
It reads that Giuliani’s letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis appeared to take sides in a fight at the top of the Romanian government over how to rein in high-level corruption.
Giuliani — who regularly appears in the media as a public representative of Trump – told POLITICO Tuesday that his letter “was based on a report I reviewed” by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who runs a global consulting firm called Freeh Group International Solutions. “They are paying my fee,” Giuliani said of the Freeh Group.
He would not say how much he was paid or whether the Freeh Group retained him on behalf of a client, and he directed further questions to the Freeh Group, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
William Jeffress Jr., a partner at Baker Botts who represented Lewis “Scooter” Libby in his 2007 CIA leak case, said it was surprising that Giuliani had neglected to disclose in the letter that he was acting on behalf of a client, the same source further reports.
“It is highly unusual, to say the least, for an American lawyer to write the president of a foreign nation to offer advice on that nation’s anti corruption efforts, [but] to do so without identifying the client or clients on whose behalf he is writing is astonishing,” Jeffress said.
“The only conclusion I can reach is that whoever put him up to this (and paid him) believes he will have influence because, and only because, he is the president’s lawyer.”
As ‘Romania Journal’ reported, Rudolph Giuliani, US President’s lawyer, sent a letter to President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Viorica Dancila and the two Parliament Speakers early this week, regarding the protocols signed by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI).
The letter mentioned “the continuing damage to the rule of law in Romania” and the “DNA excesses”.
Giuliani pointed at signatories of the protocols Laura Codruta Kovesi and the currently serving Ambassador to Washington DC, George Maior, and called for the clarification of the protocols.
Romanian Ambassador to Washington DC, George Maior, former SRI chief, said that Rudolph Giuliani is a sparkling and combative character, the “expression of lobby initiated by some forces” which want to defend persons in Romania who have criminal problems.
“Mr. Giuliani is a sparkling and combative character in the discussions in the US. I don’t know if he still is Mr. Trump’s lawyer, anyway, he is the expression of a lobby initiated by some forces interested in the defence of certain persons (in Romania – our note) who had problems with the judiciary,” George Maior said on Monday at the Annual Meeting of Romania Diplomacy.
The US Embassy in Bucharest informed on Tuesday that “the US government does not comment on the views or conclusions of private US citizens,” after being asked about the letter sent by Rudolph Giuliani to President Klaus Iohannis.
Donald Carroll, Press Officer with the US Embassy, informs in a release that “I would refer you to Mr. Giuliani for comment on statements he is reported to have made.”GRECO
The Embassy further informs that, “Romania until recently has shown considerable progress in combating corruption and building effective rule of law. We encourage Romanians to continue on this path. We are following closely the changes to the criminal codes and remain concerned that a number of these changes are likely to impede international law enforcement cooperation and negatively impact the fight against a range of crimes. We encourage all parties to reconsider feedback provided by domestic legal experts such as Romania’s Superior Council of Magistracy, and from international experts such as the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the Venice Commission.”
In retort to the information that Giuliani has been paid to write and send the letter in Romania, Senate Speaker Calin Popescu Tariceanu said that Rudolph Giuliani had got informed about the situation in Romania before sending the letter to the Romanian authorities and that he had taken this step in full knowledge of the facts.
“As long as lobby activities are legal and remunerated, it is no problem. More than that, the lobby companies are embracing a cause that they are to officially endorse, which means that Giuliani has got previously informed about the situation in Romania and has made this demarche in full knowledge of the facts,” Tariceanu said.
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