WASHINGTON (AP) - Rudy Giuliani, President-elect Donald Trump's top candidate for top diplomat, has advised foreign political figures and worked for lobbying and security firms whose clients have had complicated relationships with the U.S. government.
While not personally involved in lobbying, Giuliani spent years at firms which represented governments and multinational companies, some of which had interests that diverged from those of the United States. He also made speeches demanding the State Department remove an Iranian opposition group from a U.S. terror blacklist.
As the former New York mayor waits to discover if he is Trump's choice for secretary of state, Giuliani's extensive consulting and advising work for foreign and corporate clients could expose him to the same criticisms he raised about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's ties to foreign governments and corporations that had donated to her family charity, the Clinton Foundation.
"What she did with the Clinton Foundation and all the favors the State Department did for hundreds of millions of dollars is, to me, clear violation of the conflict of interest law," Giuliani told CNN in August.
But when Clinton was secretary of state, she was the one concerned about Giuliani after he took a trip to Belgrade and met with leaders of a Serbian political party once allied with Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
A longtime associate defended Giuliani's extensive international work Wednesday, saying the former mayor currently has only one international security contract. It is with the government of Colombia, said the associate, who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak officially for the former mayor. He said Giuliani would provide lengthy public disclosure of his business interests, if nominated.
Giuliani did not respond to requests, made through his associate, to speak to the AP. In an interview Tuesday with the New York Times, Giuliani said he never lobbied for any interests, foreign or otherwise. He defended his consulting firm's work in the Persian Gulf monarchy of Qatar and the money he received for supporting the Mujahedin-e Khalq, the Iranian dissident group, even as it was a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization.
Giuliani said that he did consulting work for TransCanada, the company pushing for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which the State Department would have a role in approving. But Giuliani said he had no involvement in that effort. He said his work for TransCanada focused on a planned natural gas facility in New York that never materialized.
"I have friends all over the world," Giuliani said. "This is not a new thing for me. When you become the mayor, you become interested in foreign policy. When I left, my major work was legal and security around the world."