Washington Post Quotes Matthew Sanderson on Giuliani and FARA Registration

President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, negotiated this year to represent Ukraine’s top prosecutor for at least $200,000 during the same months that Giuliani was working with the prosecutor to dig up dirt on former vice president Joe Biden, according to people familiar with the discussions.

. . .

The contracts — even if not ultimately executed — could be a piece of evidence to help advance prosecutors’ investigation into whether Giuliani failed to submit the required paperwork under FARA to work for a foreign power, said Matthew Sanderson, an attorney at Caplin & Drysdale who specializes in such issues.

Sanderson said it is normal that lobbying firms start performing work for clients before contracts are finalized — and even in those instances, those firms must register under the act. Draft contracts, he said, “can further establish that there are relationships” that necessitate registration.

While Giuliani has argued that he was seeking Yovanovitch’s ouster to help Trump, the contracts might help demonstrate that his efforts were actually on behalf of Ukraine — and he thus should have registered as a foreign agent.

“It doesn’t get you all the way to saying that his efforts to influence and effect the ouster of Yovanovitch were on behalf of Ukrainians, but it certainly does establish that there was some relationship or contemplated relationship along those lines,” Sanderson said.

For the full article, please visit The Washington Post's website.