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Two Giuliani associates plead not guilty in New York
Summary
A retrospective on the court hearing that followed a day of testimony in the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.
What did the Ukraine affair look like on 23 October 2019, the day after a senior diplomat's testimony to Congress? In New York City, it took the form of a courtroom hearing.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two associates of Rudy Giuliani, pleaded not guilty. Giuliani was President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, and the two men had helped him in a search in Ukraine for damaging information on the president's political opponents. They were charged with funnelling $350,000 in illegal donations to a pro-Trump political committee and another $20,000 to former Republican Congressman Pete Sessions. Prosecutors alleged they did so while acting on behalf of at least one Ukrainian government official.
The testimony the day before
The hearing came a day after William B. Taylor Jr., the acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, testified before Congress as part of the impeachment inquiry. He said he had been told that Trump would withhold military aid to Ukraine, to help his reelection chances, until the country publicly declared that investigations would be launched. The investigations concerned Burisma Holdings, a company that had hired Hunter Biden, son of former Vice President Joe Biden, and Ukraine's alleged involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The wider picture
Later accounts describe the scandal as arising from Trump's attempts to press Ukraine to investigate his rival Joe Biden. They say he enlisted surrogates, Giuliani among them, and blocked a congressionally mandated $400 million military aid package. Contacts between the White House and the Ukrainian government culminated in a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 25 July 2019.
On 23 October 2019, the two strands were running side by side: congressional testimony on the aid, and a criminal case over donations tied to Giuliani's circle.
