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Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said on Saturday morning that there is no question that Donald Trump understood that his joint efforts with Rudy Giuliani to extort Ukraine were “crooked.”

Vance pointed out that if the president thought his and Giuliani’s conduct was above board, he would’ve used the resources of the State Department instead of running a shadow diplomacy operation with the former New York City mayor.

“President Trump runs the government,” the former U.S. attorney said. “He has all the resources of the State Department at his disposal. Why does he need Rudy Giuliani to run a shadow diplomacy if it’s not crooked?”

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Vance said:

Then let’s say we got to a situation before Congres or in court where some prosecutor or some sentor wanted to get testimony about what was said. And there’s the possibility that these conversations wouldn’t be under the attorney/client privilege because of this exception called the crime-fraud exception. You can’t get legal advice to cover up a crime, and here’s the kicker. President Trump runs the government. He has all the resources of the State Department at his disposal. Why does he need Rudy Giuliani to run a shadow diplomacy if it’s not crooked?

Everything Rudy Giuliani touches is sleazy

There are two reasons Donald Trump dispatched his bumbling lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to run a shadow foreign policy in Ukraine, as Joyce Vance pointed out on Saturday.

First, the president knew that the operation, like just about everything he’s ever done in his life, was crooked. Making it official State Department policy wouldn’t just raise alarm bells immediately, but it would also be difficult to cover up.

Second, Trump and his henchmen plan to plaster attorney-client privilege onto every communication the president had with Giuliani so it doesn’t become public. But as Vance also pointed out today, you lose that privilege when you’re committing crimes.

Donald Trump knew all along that he was violating the law by extorting a foreign power for political gain, which is why he looked to sleazeball lawyer Rudy Giuliani to lead the secret effort.

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