Attorney General William Barr confirmed on Monday that you can’t take any information you get from Ukraine at face value–an approach that was not shared by John Solomon, Rudy Giuliani and his associates, and President Donald Trump in the lead-up to the impeachment inquiry and beyond.
Barr made the comments on Monday when confirming that, indeed, the Department of Justice has a process in place for Giuliani to hand over dirt so that said dirt can be vetted. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) claimed on Sunday that there was such a process currently being utilized.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the Justice Department is receiving information on the Bidens, coming from Ukraine via Rudy Giuliani https://t.co/HcNhYOaGzy pic.twitter.com/nvaDpWEAjC
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 10, 2020
Barr confirmed that during a press conference on an unrelated high-profile matter. The DOJ has the obligation to have an “open door” to anyone who “wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant,” the Attorney General said on Monday.
Barr said that he warned Sen. Graham, however, that you just can’t trust information coming from Ukraine.
NEW: AG Barr asked about “process” he set up for @RudyGiuliani to share info from Ukraine with DOJ. Barr says he has an open door to “anybody.” But former DOJ officials say this is *not* the way it works. Barr abruptly left the stage after one question, so no follow-up. @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/seeFwCpfh2
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCBS) February 10, 2020
“There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, there are a lot of crosscurrents, and you can’t take anything you receive from the Ukraine at face value,” he said. “And for that reason we had established an intake process in the field so that any information coming in about Ukraine can be carefully scrutinized by the Department and its intelligence community partners, so that we could assess its provenance and its credibility.”
“That is true for all information that comes to the Department relating to the Ukraine, including anything that Mr. Giuliani might provide,” Barr continued.
[Image via Ed Zurga/Getty Images]
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