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Giuliani contacts Ukraine ex-prosecutor on trip to Europe

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New York, Dec 5

Rudolph Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, met in Budapest this week with a former Ukrainian prosecutor, Yuriy Lutsenko, who has emerged as a key figure in the impeachment investigation of the US president, media reports said.

Despite the fact that Democratic lawmakers are intensifying their scrutiny this week of Giuliani's role in the pressure campaign against the Ukrainian government that is at the centre of their impeachment investigation, the former New York mayor has been in Europe continuing his efforts to refute the Democrats' accusations against Trump.

Giuliani was reported to have met with Lutsenko on Tuesday and on Wednesday Trump's attorney travelled to Kyiv to meet with other Ukrainian former prosecutors, Efe news reported.

Also on Wednesday, three prominent experts in constitutional law called by Democratic lawmakers to testify in Congress told the House Judiciary Committee that Trump abused his office by asking Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter for alleged corruption in that country.

The former Ukrainian prosecutors, who have been accused of corruption themselves, are said to have played a role in the request for investigations into the Bidens' activities, as well as the firing of the former US ambassador to Ukraine and Ukrainians who provided information prejudicial information about Trump.

Those claims have been the basis for Trump and Giuliani's efforts to pressure the Ukrainian government to commit to launching investigations that would have benefited Trump and his 2020 re-election campaign.

The New York Times said that Giuliani's trip to Budapest and Kyiv suggests that he is not worried about the intense scrutiny he and his associates have received, including the revelations by the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday of frequent telephone calls by Giuliani to the White House at key moments this year.

The European trip was organised around the filming of a television series with Giuliani that is being produced and broadcast by a conservative cable television channel.