The heads of the three House Congressional Committee on International Affairs, Intelligence and State Oversight announced that they will begin an investigation into Trump, his associate and personal lawyer Rudolf Giuliani. The reason is reports of attempts to put pressure on the new leadership of Ukraine, in particular on Vladimir Zelensky, in order to obtain compromising evidence on former vice president Joe Biden, a likely opponent of the head of state in the 2020 elections.

In their statement, the leaders of the committees, which are members of the Democratic Party, argue that Trump and Giuliani intended to receive information from the Ukrainian authorities that "would facilitate the re-election of Trump in 2020."

“The president and his personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani, apparently bypassing legal law enforcement practices and diplomatic channels, are forcing the Ukrainian government to initiate two politically motivated investigations under the guise of fighting corruption,” an open letter posted on the website of the House Committee for intelligence.

The letter explains that Trump and Giuliani allegedly insist on “persecuting Ukrainian citizens” who testified against the convicted head of Trump's campaign headquarters Paul Manafort.

“The purpose of this investigation is to devalue the compelling evidence cited in Mueller’s report of Russia's interference in the 2016 elections in favor of Trump. The second investigation concerns the son of former vice president Joe Biden. Biden is Trump’s potential adversary in the 2020 election, ”the report explained.

In open letters sent to the US State Department and the White House, the heads of the committees demand that all documents relating to the negotiations between Donald Trump and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as the activities of Rudolf Giuliani as part of his contacts with Ukrainian politicians be handed to them.

In an interview with RT, political analyst Alexander Asafov noted that Democrats again unprovenly accuse Trump, just as he had previously been suspected of "ties" with the Kremlin.

“The case connected with the“ Ukrainian trace ”is an occasion for the Democrats to again be able to accuse Trump of illegal actions and to write about this in the media. Even if Democrats are sure that they will not find anything, the very rinsing of these facts in public already works against the US president, as this creates a certain negative context and, consequently, causes him reputational damage, ”the expert explained.

Visit to Kiev

Earlier, CNN broadcast a report reporting that President’s personal lawyer, Rudolf Giuliani, had a meeting in July with Vladimir Zelensky’s assistant, Andrei Yermak, in Spain. It allegedly discussed the role of former US Vice President Joe Biden in the resignation of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin in 2016.

On the channel’s channel, Giuliani himself announced that the US State Department had informed him of Yermak’s desire to meet with him. Giuliani spoke of two telephone conversations with Ermak and their meeting in Madrid.

According to Giuliani, his conversation with a representative of the Zelensky administration, except for Biden’s personality, concerned some attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to influence Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016.

Recall that Giuliani intended to visit Kiev in May this year, but then canceled the visit, citing the fact that Vladimir Zelensky was surrounded by "many enemies of Donald Trump."

“I heard from two very reliable sources this evening that convinces me that the president (President-elect of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. - RT ) is surrounded by people who are enemies of President Trump, and also, in at least one case, by corrupt officials,” explained he then gave the reason for his decision on Fox News.

Ukrainian connected

The second goal of a Democratic congressional investigation could be an attempt to shield Joe Biden, the leading Democratic candidate from the Democratic Party, from acting on the part of Trump and his administration, experts say.

  • Volodymyr Groysman, Joe Biden, Petro Poroshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk in 2015
  • Reuters
  • © Anastasia Sirotkina

Recall, the son of the former vice president of the United States, Hunter Biden, after his father's visit to Ukraine in 2014, joined the board of directors of Burisma, one of the largest private gas companies in Ukraine. The American publication The Hill in April reported that the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine suspected Hunter Biden of receiving bribes from the leadership of Burisma.

According to the publication, in the period from spring 2014 to autumn 2015, Biden Jr. was allegedly transferred about $ 166 thousand per month. This happened at a time when his father, Joe Biden, also served as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine.

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin planned to call Hunter Biden for interrogation on the fact of abuse in Burisma and the gas industry of the country, but in March 2016 he was removed from his post.

In January 2018, Biden, speaking at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, recalled this episode. He said that he had delivered an ultimatum to the president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and the prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, threatening them with the cancellation of credit guarantees for $ 1 billion if the prosecutor general Shokin was not removed from his post.

He explained the demand to deprive Shokin of the post by the fact that the prosecutor general allegedly was involved in corruption schemes and without his resignation it was impossible to guarantee the targeted use of American credit.

  • Former Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin
  • Reuters
  • © Valentyn Ogirenko

According to Gevorg Mirzayan, assistant professor of political science at the Financial University under the Government of Russia, these facts indicate a possible violation of the law by former vice president Joe Biden. That is why Democrats in Congress want to discredit the actions of Trump and Giuliani.

“Biden is the hope and bulwark of a number of democratic forces in the 2020 elections,” the expert explained.

Democratic obsession

One of the initiators of the new investigation is Adam Schiff, head of the US House of Representatives committee. Experts in a conversation with RT recalled that Schiff was literally obsessed with the idea of ​​impeachment of Donald Trump and his ties with Russia. While Müller’s investigation was ongoing in the United States, Congressman Schiff regularly appeared on CNN and CBS and claimed that Trump’s impeachment was imminent.

He also claimed, even before the release of the final report of the Mueller commission, that the prosecutor's office had "irrefutable" evidence of Trump's "ties" with Russia. In one of his interviews, Schiff even said that after the investigation, Trump will face imprisonment.

After Mueller’s investigation was completed in the spring of 2019, and the final conclusion stated that there were no signs of Trump’s headquarters with the Kremlin, Schiff actually refused to accept his findings. He said that the conclusion of the prosecutor general was not enough, and demanded that Robert Mueller appear in Congress to testify.

Taking advantage of his position as head of the intelligence committee, Schiff reopened an investigation into Trump’s "ties" with Russia under the authority of Congress. In a letter of a new investigation signed by Schiff and other Democrats, Russia is again mentioned.

“President Trump also threatened to block the transfer of military assistance in the amount of $ 250 million, which was approved by Congress, supported by the Pentagon and which Ukraine desperately needs ... If President Trump really challenges Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression without help from the United States or to allow the judicial system of Ukraine to act in the interests of Trump’s campaign headquarters, this is a blatant abuse of power, a gift for Russia and a betrayal of public confidence, ”the letter says.

Alexander Asafov believes that the Democrats will not stop there and will bring new charges to Trump in the near future.

“In reality, of course, the entire political elite of the Ukrainian state transferred money, hired specialists, was in long communication and passed information to the democrats, but these facts do not prevent the democrats from looking for traces of Trump and Giuliani’s activities in Kiev,” the expert noted.

In turn, Gervog Mirzayan believes that if the Ukrainian case will be launched in the Ministry of Justice, this could seriously affect the chances of Joe Biden becoming the US president.

“If Trump and Giuliani can prove that Biden used the US foreign policy tools to protect his son, and Zelensky will cooperate with them in this matter, then this is not a separate violation of the vice president’s son, but the fact of abuse of official powers by Joe Biden” - concluded the political scientist.