The federal judge overseeing the Justice Department’s prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey has already handled cases in President Donald Trump’s orbit.

A Florida man who helped Rudy Giuliani seek damaging information against Joe Biden in Ukraine has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison and fined $10,000 in an unrelated campaign finance case.

The October illegal campaign contribution trial of an associate of Rudy Giuliani and a guilty plea set to occur this week by a second associate puts a spotlight on him as a government probe of the former mayor continues.

WASHINGTON, DC A Soviet-born associate of Rudy Giuliani charged with federal campaign finances is now prepared to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry involving President Donald Trump, reversing course from an earlier position, his attorney said Monday. Parnas and Igor Fruman, another Giuliani associate, were arrested at an airport last month while trying to leave the country with one-way tickets. Parnas's attorney, Joseph Bondy, sent lawmakers a letter informing them of his client's stance. Bondy said Parnas is prepared to answer questions and produce documents for the impeachment inquiry as long as they don't step on his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. A previous lawyer for Parnas, John Dowd, had said Parnas would not cooperate.

Giuliani had lunch with Fruman and Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington hours before the two were arrested, The Wall Street Journal reported. The four are alleged in the indictment unsealed by New York federal prosecutors to have conducted a scheme beginning in March 2018 to evade campaign finance laws. The request from Congress is the second set of subpoenas linking Giuliani and other Trump affiliates to Parnas. "Protecting the integrity of our elections and protecting our elections from unlawful foreign influence are core functions of our campaign finance laws," he said. The business venture and the ensuing lobbying effort was largely funded by a Russian national, running afoul of campaign finance violations that prohibit political donations from foreigners, the indictment states.