Russia used Trump's personal lawyer to feed misinformation to the president -- and the White House knew

The White House was warned that Russian intelligence was seeking to exploit his personal attorney according to a bombshell new report in The Washington Post.

"U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that President Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence," the newspaper reported, citing "four former officials familiar with the matter."

"The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intelligence during a December 2019 trip to Ukraine, where he was gathering information that he thought would expose corrupt acts by former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter," The Post reported. "The intelligence raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to the president, the former officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and conversations."

One former official described the message of the warnings as “Do what you want to do, but your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine."

Trump reportedly shrugged his shoulders and replied, "That's Rudy."

"Officials' warnings about Giuliani underscore the concern in the U.S. intelligence community that Russia not only is seeking to reprise the disinformation campaign it waged in 2016, but also may now be aided, unwittingly or otherwise, by individuals close to the president. Those warnings have gained fresh urgency in recent days. The information that Giuliani sought in Ukraine is similar to what is contained in emails and other correspondence published this week by the New York Post, which the paper said came from the laptop of Hunter Biden and were provided by Giuliani and Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former top political adviser at the White House," The Post reported.