President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has joined buckraking forces with former Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), speaking at an event in Albania for a bizarre, cultish Iranian group that fashions itself as a government-in-exile for the Islamic Republic.
Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) — once designated as a foreign terrorist group — hosted the conference at a compound that MEK operates in Albania.
In addition to Giuliani and Lieberman, former Colombian Senator and longtime FARC hostage Ingrid Betancourt appeared at the event, along with former Marine Corps Commandant James Conway.
Billed as “The 120 Year Struggle Of The Iranian People For Freedom,” the conference appears to focus in part on extolling the virtues of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi. Rajavi styles herself as the “leader of the Iranian resistance,” but has faced criticism for alleged brainwashing by the group.
In a video posted to Twitter, Giuliani says that “an alternative exists to the theocracy in Iran. It’s our responsibility to support it.”
"We could have prevented the Holocaust. We can't now. We can just learn from it. But we can prevent the murder and slaughter going on in Iran. An alternative exists to the theocracy in Iran. It's our responsibility to support it" – @RudyGiuliani #FreeIran #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/MNvv2h5xQP
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019
In March, the Trump Administration reportedly shifted its position to no longer rule out MEK as a potential replacement for Iran’s current government.
Giuliani seems to have gone straight to the conference from a Thursday evening call-in appearance on Sean Hannity.
Giuliani also spoke at an anti-Iran rally in Warsaw in February, saying that he was representing MEK, and not Trump. He did some work for Trump on the sidelines of the event, however, meeting with a Ukrainian prosecutor who was claiming to have dirt on presidential candidate Joe Biden.
At Friday’s conference, Lieberman echoed Giuliani’s statements.
“When I’m here I feel that I’m representing the spirit of my great friend, the late Senator John McCain, who was warned by the establishment to stay away from this organization, but he spent time learning about it,” Lieberman said. “He came to Ashraf 3, believing in this organization and its cause.”
.@JoeLieberman: "With the leadership that @Maryam_Rajavi & the MEK have given & will give in a liberated independent Iran, with the strength of your movement & with the support of the ppl in Iran today who're ready to rise up, soon we'll see a #FreeIran". #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/7E5RYBx9k0
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019
This isn’t Giuliani’s first time in Albania. In May 2018, he traveled to the southern European country for another MEK event. The relationship has gone on for years.
