The US Treasury Department has levied sanctions on the pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani worked with in his quest to get incriminating information on Joe Biden to help President Trump’s reelection effort, Politico reports.
Andriy Derkach was sanctioned for his role as a foreign national working to undermine the integrity of US sovereign elections. The US intelligence community had previously designed Derkach as a “malign actor” for interfering in US elections. Giuliani met with Derkach in December 2019 in the hopes of digging up dirt on Biden relating to Biden’s and Biden’s family’s dealings in Ukraine. Giuliani’s meeting with Derkach happened six months after Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Zelensky to “do us a favor” and get info on Biden.
Trump was impeached for charges related to that call in January, but the Senate failed to convict him. Derkach has also sent reported unsolicited information to US lawmakers in the hopes of prompting Congressional investigations into the Bidens.