US accuses Giuliani ally of being a Russian spy, sanctions him for involvement in election meddling

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: CNN

(CNN)The US Treasury Department announced Thursday that it is sanctioning a Ukrainian lawmaker with ties to President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, accusing him of being a Russian spy involved in Moscow's interference efforts in the 2020 election.

The controversial Ukrainian lawmaker, Andrii Derkach, was already singled out earlier this summer by the US intelligence community for helping Moscow's ongoing efforts to weaken Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden.
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The Treasury Department said Thursday that Derkach has waged a years-long "covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election, spurring corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States designed to culminate prior to election day."
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Derkach has worked closely with Giuliani to peddle anti-Biden material, which has also been embraced by Republican lawmakers and right-wing outlets like OANN.

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/10/politics/treasury-sanctions-derkach-ukraine-election-interference/index.html

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Trump's personal lawyer is in cahoots with a Russian spy trying to fix the 2020 election. And Trump's favorite "news" outlet is up to their necks in it too. Nothing to see here, move along, folks ...

Treasury designated Andrii Derkach (Derkach) pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13848 for his efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services. Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election. Today’s designation of Derkach is focused on exposing Russian malign influence campaigns and protecting our upcoming elections from foreign interference. This action is a clear signal to Moscow and its proxies that this activity will not be tolerated. The Administration is working across the U.S. Government, and with state, local, and private sector partners, to make the 2020 election secure.

“Andrii Derkach and other Russian agents employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the United States and elsewhere around the world,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to counter these Russian disinformation campaigns and uphold the integrity of our election system.”

From at least late 2019 through mid-2020, Derkach waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election, spurring corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States designed to culminate prior to election day. Derkach’s unsubstantiated narratives were pushed in Western media through coverage of press conferences and other news events, including interviews and statements.

Between May and July 2020, Derkach released edited audio tapes and other unsupported information with the intent to discredit U.S. officials, and he levied unsubstantiated allegations against U.S. and international political figures. Derkach almost certainly targeted the U.S. voting populace, prominent U.S. persons, and members of the U.S. government, based on his reliance on U.S. platforms, English-language documents and videos, and pro-Russian lobbyists in the United States used to propagate his claims.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1118

What the Treasury Department’s press release does not say is who, exactly, Mr. Derkach is partnered with in his activities against the United States as a Russian Intelligence Services officer. We know the answer to that because Derkach and his American accessories have been very up front about their activities. Derkach’s two main partners in his endeavors, which The Department of the Treasury has now stated unequivocally are the endeavors of the Russian Intelligence Services, are Rudy Giuliani and Chanel Rion, the far too credulous reporter from One America News Network (OANN).

From The Washington Post:

Dec. 5, 2019 at 5:45 p.m. EST

KYIV, Ukraine — President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani met Thursday in Ukraine with one of the key figures working to build a corruption case against Hunter Biden, the Ukraine lawmaker said, after posting Facebook photographs of himself with the former New York mayor.

Andriy Derkach said he pressed Giuliani on the need to set up a joint U.S.-Ukraine investigation into corruption in Ukraine at the meeting in Kyiv. Derkach also vowed to set up an anti-corruption group in the Ukraine parliament.

OANN trumpeted their own, and their correspondent Chanel Rion’s, involvement.

Link to tweet

Rion has her own issues, which I won’t get into here, but quite simply she is the poster girl for the counterintelligence concept of MICE: Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego. Rudy Giuliani is definitely one of the poster boys for MICE! He’s constantly chasing money to maintain his lavish lifestyle and pay alimony; his ideology has been all over the map for years, but basically comes down to whatever benefits Rudy Giuliani; he’s carried on multiple affairs and tries to keep them secret and he’s constantly chasing shady security consulting contracts in the post-Soviet states and the Middle East, so there’s a lot of compromising information on him out there; and his ego is ginormous!

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2020/09/10/rudy-giuliani-is-being-run-by-russias-intelligence-service-the-us-department-of-the-treasury-designates-rudy-giulianis-source-andrii-derkach-a-longstanding-russian-agent/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. What Little Odessa and Brighton Beach have wrought

The melting pot of oligarch crooks. Where has our intelligence community been for 30 years? Defunded by GHWB for a Cold War dividend that never trickled?

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Now who do you suppose supplied the "documents" Barr and Sasse were talking about?

I think we can identify which deep state has supplied Trump's tag-team with all that trompe l'oeil they're raving about in the senate committee.

[pecosbob]

3. I really, really wanna see Rudy repeatedly bitch-slapped on national television