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NEW: Documents we obtained, reported on by CNN, show Rep. Trey Gowdy worked with Rudy Giuliani on a legal matter ahead of the impeachment proceedings. Gowdy and Giuliani had a meeting with AG Barr and DOJ officials on behalf of a Venezuelan client. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/16/politics/trey-gowdy-rudy-giuliani-impeachment-proceedings/index.html
Rep. Gowdy is a former South Carolina member of Congress who had chaired the House select committee on Benghazi. In fall 2019, Gowdy was briefly named to Trump’s impeachment defense team but ultimately did not join.
On Aug. 23, 2019, Barr met with Giuliani and Gowdy. According to email records, the meeting had been requested by Barr on Aug. 19, contradicting the Justice Department’s previous assertions about Barr’s contacts with Giuliani.
https://www.americanoversight.org/newly-unearthed-documents-show-multiple-meetings-between-giuliani-and-barr-and-gowdy-in-2019
https://www.americanoversight.org/newly-unearthed-documents-show-multiple-meetings-between-giuliani-and-barr-and-gowdy-in-2019
Press had previously reported that Barr had dropped in on a meeting between Giuliani and top criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department, though the documents we obtained reveal at least two meetings with Giuliani.
Gowdy’s presence had also not been previously reported. The documents show Barr’s office was involved in planning a meeting with Giuliani in advance of the meeting, challenging DOJ’s portrayal that Barr’s presence was an incidental drop-by.
DOJ stated shortly after the House announced its impeachment inquiry in late September that said Barr had not “discussed [the Ukraine] matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani.”
At the time of the meeting, Giuliani was working behind the scenes to convince Ukraine to announce investigations into Burisma and Trump’s potential political rival Joe Biden.
Another interesting detail in the new documents: Seth DuCharme, then the principal associate deputy attorney general, also attended an August 26 with a Giuliani associate, Joseph diGenova, who was at the time representing Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash.
Just this past week, Barr installed DuCharme as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/10/new-top-prosecutor-eastern-district-new-york-356605
We previously obtained documents that reveal duCharme had met or spoken 12+ times with U.S. Attorney John Durham, the prosecutor tapped by Barr to examine the origins of the investigation into Russian election meddling. https://www.americanoversight.org/documents-we-obtained-show-barr-met-with-prosecutor-examining-mueller-investigation-immediately-after-mueller-investigation-ended
The newly obtained records also include a Dec. 11, 2019, letter to Barr from Rep. Matthew Gaetz and former Rep. Mark Meadows, who is now Trump’s chief of staff.
The letter said that both congressmen had received phone calls from Giuliani on Dec. 8, who told them he had traveled to Ukraine to find information about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election — one of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that he wanted Zelensky to investigate.
“We do not intend to pursue information offered by Mr. Giuliani,” Gaetz and Meadows wrote. Publicly, Gaetz had said it was “weird” that Giuliani was “over there,” but Meadows told CNN that if Giuliani were “finding something that is inappropriate,” he should bring it to Congress.
These documents continue to add new facts about the events that led to President Trump’s impeachment. "It’s been more than 5 months since the Senate voted to acquit President Trump, and new facts are continuing to come out,” said our executive director @AREvers.
We’ve been using FOIA and litigation to uncover the facts about President Trump’s corrupt dealings in Ukraine and the politicization of the Justice Department — and the truth is going to continue to come out. You can track our investigations here: https://www.americanoversight.org/areas_of_investigation/abuse-of-power
