Trump Allies Pressed Ukraine Over Gas Firm (lengthy but worth the read)
As Trump urged Ukraines leaders to investigate Joe Biden, associates of his lawyer Rudy Giuliani were looking to profit from the countrys state-run natural gas company.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trumps main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic.
Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraines massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans.
Their plan hit a snag after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lost his reelection bid to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose conversation with Trump about former Vice President Joe Biden is now at the center of the House impeachment inquiry of Trump.
But the effort to install a friendlier management team at the helm of the gas company, Naftogaz, would soon be taken up with Ukraines new president by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, whose slate of candidates included a fellow Texan who is one of Perrys past political donors.
Its unclear if Perrys attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts. And its unclear what role, if any, Giuliani had in helping his clients push to get gas sales agreements with the state-owned company.
But the affair shows how those with ties to Trump and his administration were pursuing business deals in Ukraine that went far beyond advancing the presidents personal political interests. It also raises questions about whether Trump allies were mixing business and politics just as Republicans were calling for a probe of Biden and his son Hunter, who served five years on the board of another Ukrainian energy company, Burisma.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-allies-ukraine-gas-firm_n_5d9a7c11e4b0993898020e60