White House was warned Giuliani was target of Russian intelligence operation to feed misinformation

[demmiblue]

U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former officials familiar with the matter.

The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence during a December 2019 trip to Ukraine, where he was gathering information that he thought would expose corrupt acts by former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

The intelligence raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to the president, the former officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and conversations.

The warnings to the White House, which have not previously been reported, led national security adviser Robert O’Brien to caution Trump in a private conversation that any information Giuliani brought back from Ukraine should be considered contaminated by Russia, one of the former officials said.

The message was, “Do what you want to do, but your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine,” this person said. Officials wanted “to protect the president from coming out and saying something stupid,” particularly since he was facing impeachment over his own efforts to strong-arm Ukraine’s president into investigating the Bidens.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/giuliani-biden-ukraine-russian-disinformation/2020/10/15/43158900-0ef5-11eb-b1e8-16b59b92b36d_story.html

[SWBTATTReg]

1. G is a fool, and now he's going to be mocked endlessly about this and being taken in by

Russian secret agents for the rest of his feeble life. He deserves to be made fun of, especially now.

[soothsayer]

2. More of an asset (read: ass hat) spreading it willingly

[chriscan64]

3. The only way that this is good for Trump

is that it makes it look like there is at least one person dumber than he is. Think about it, Rudy practically announced to an adversary skilled in disinformation the exact nature of the intel he wanted. Lo and behold, they "found" some. And it is not really a warning when you tell Trump that Rudy is in the compromising position that Trump himself put him in.

[dalton99a]

4. Kick