'Trump’s lawyer sought leniency for client over ties with Venezuela opposition'
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani has reportedly lobbied US prosecutors to avoid possible prosecution of his wealthy Venezuelan client due to his financial support for Venezuela’s opposition figure Juan Guaido.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that Giuliani urged, last year, the Justice Department prosecutors to go easy on Alejandro Betancourt.
Betancourt — an executive with the Venezuelan state-owned oil company in Florida — is the subject of a criminal investigation into $1.2 billion in alleged money laundering in the US state.
In an August meeting in Spain, Betancourt told Giuliani he secretly helped bankroll Guaido’s efforts to topple the government of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, according to people familiar with the situation.
A month later, in a meeting with prosecutors, including Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brian Benczkowski in Washington DC, Giuliani told them that Betancourt was doing good work for the United States through providing assistance for the Guaido, the report cited Giuliani’s former associate Lev Parnas.
Giuliani argued that Betancourt was crucial to the survival of the Venezuelan opposition, according to a person with direct knowledge of the meeting.
Betancourt had hoped those “bona fides” would enable his lawyer to persuade prosecutors in the US Justice Department to drop the probe against him.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the report.
At the Spain meeting, the Venezuelan businessman reportedly introduced Trump’s personal lawyer to Guaido’s father, Wilmer Guaido, the Washington Post reported in November.
The report showed that Guiliani, who proclaims himself business consultant and lawyer, has played complex roles in Washington since Trump assumed office in 2017.
The reported attempt by Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is also at the center of Trump’s impeachment trial, to avoid possible prosecution of his client by claiming that Betancourt supported a US plot - the toppling of Venezuela’s Maduro - could bring more embarrassment to the Trump administration.
Washington has already imposed rounds of sanctions against the oil-rich country to oust Maduro and recognized Guaido, who has declared himself “interim president.”
Since January 2019, the United States and dozens of other countries have recognized Guaido as Venezuela’s president, however Maduro has remained firmly in power.
Caracas has blamed the US for the political crisis in the country, calling Guaido the Washington’s puppet.
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