President Donald Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani is reportedly still taking foreign clients through his security firm, despite saying he was not involved in the company before joining Trump’s legal team, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Giuliani told the Post that he is still representing clients in Brazil and Colombia, and also gave a paid speech to a controversial group based in Iran. He defended his work to the Post, offering that he is working pro bono and has never lobbied the President while working overseas.
“I’ve never lobbied him on anything,” Giuliani told the Post. “I don’t represent foreign government in front of the U.S. government. I’ve never registered to lobby.”
Giuliani also told the Post that he keeps his work for his clients confidential, never discusses it with Trump and even turns away clients that he thinks may raise an issue. But ethics experts say the work presents conflict of interest concerns and likely requires Giuliani to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.
One of Giuliani’s clients is Kharkiv, Ukraine. The mayor of Kharkiv is a well known member of the Party of Regions, the political group at the focal point of the federal investigation into Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort.
