President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani has been accused of conducting his own “shadow diplomacy” with both Ukraine and Venezuela, despite not being a registered foreign agent. But as MSNBC host Chris Hayes pointed out, it’s another of Giuliani’s clients that could get him in trouble now.
“One reason the threat of catastrophe in the Middle East remains present, at the moment, is because the president is surrounded by people who have been quite openly pushing for a full military confrontation with Iran for a while,” said Hayes.
One, Hayes said, is his most infamous adviser: Mr. Giuliani.
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While Giuliani hasn’t been appointed to any government office or confirmed by the U.S. Senate, somehow he’s running his own government projects.
“Aside from his various meetings with various Ukrainian figures to manufacturer dirt on Joe Biden, has represented Turkish interests and then pushed for policies favorable to President Erdoğan,” Hayes continued. “And he has a longstanding relationship with a fringe Iranian dissident group known as the MEK a group rooted in Marxism and Islamism that’s often described as a cult and his primary goal is to overthrow the Iranian regime.”
The MEK is currently headquartered in Albania and most of the members are exiles from the country.
“They have paid tons of money to American political figures to curry favor, including John Bolton, Howard Dean, Ed Rendell and, of course, Rudy Giuliani. When contacted by the Daily Beast on Monday, Giuliani cited the MEK as a reason he supported the assassination of Qassem Suleimani saying he was, ‘Directly responsible for killing some of my MEK people.’ This would be a little like favoring action against the U.S. because you had friends in the Branch Davidians.”
Hayes said that the group is so “toxic” that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent out a cable on Tuesday to all U.S. diplomatic posts telling them not to meet with Giuliani’s client.
Giuliani, however, doesn’t work for the State Department, “so he can do whatever he wants,” Hayes said. “And we all get to deal with the consequences.”
By Sarah K. Burris, Raw Story