BUSTED: Rudy Giuliani Outed for ‘Shadow Diplomacy’ With Venezuela — Similar to His Ukraine Scandal

Giuliani did two major interviews where he campaigned for the gig, toting his international chops, which came after the Sept. 11 attacks in which the former New York City mayor worked to profit off of his connection to the most deadly terrorist incident on American soil.

The fact that Giuliani has taken over international relations without oversight or transparency is “alarming administration officials confused about whose interests he was representing,” said the report.

“His freelancing has triggered concerns among White House officials that his intercessions have muddied and at times undercut official U.S. policy, according to people familiar with the worries, who, like others cited in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions,” said The Post. “Meanwhile, federal prosecutors are scrutinizing the former New York mayor as part of an investigation into possible foreign lobbying violations.” Giuliani isn’t registered as a foreign agent.

White House officials had no idea why Giuliani was involved in Venezuela or with Maduro, one former senior official told The Post. It was against White House’s official policy not to talk to Maduro and shore up sanctions against his government, at former DNI John Bolton’s urging. Giuliani then met with Bolton to discuss his “off-the-books plan” to get Maduro out of office. It was “a plan Bolton vehemently rejected, two people familiar with the meeting said.”

After Bolton urged the president to recognize Maduro’s rival Juan Guaidó as the new president, Giuliani was hired by a new Venezuelan tycoon who’s under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for money laundering.

“The tale of [the] behind-the-scenes talks with Maduro offers another example in which the president’s personal attorney aligned with private interests to try to sway U.S. foreign policy,” said The Post. But it also goes to Giuliani’s eagerness to profit off of international work. While Giuliani was supposedly trying to dig up dirt on the Biden family in Ukraine, he was scoring cash from Ukraine’s state-run gas company.

“Their aims were profit, not politics,” the AP reported in October. “This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s 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.”

The same figures involved in the Ukraine scandal also seem to be involved in the shadow-effort in Venezuela, too, including indicted Giuliani henchman Lev Parnas and Sessions.

Read the full Washington Post piece here.