By what possible shred of reason is Rudy Giuliana still practicing law? His wild-west tactics indicate that he has no respect for it.
4
Giuliani is scapegoat #1.
- Trump will promptly throw him under the bus, and try to blame the whole affair on him alone.
- Pence may end up being Trump's ultimate scapegoat. (The Bible does tell us, "You reap what you sow.")
- Barr and Pompeo will be much tougher nuts to crack. But they will eventually go down as well.
Everything Trump touches dies.
8
The most flagrant "disgrace" in the Oval Office is dtrump himself. He's a malignant Big Brother, and Giuliani his current "Henchman in Chief." Surely due to be replaced and (hopefully) jailed in the cell next to dtrumps hapless former attorney, Michael Cohen. If impeachment is the only way to clear the smoke and mirrors out of that room let the process be as swift and effective as possible.
2
Most Americans believe that they can do whatever they wish because the constitution gives them permission....no matter if what they do is moral or immoral, decent or indecent, or right or wrong. With this kind of total freedom the future will have no need of prisons, law enforcement agencies, nor law books. Why? Because if the law allows you to do what you want, then there is no wrong you can do.
Blessed are those who do not see yet believe. To those who believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Rudolph Giuliani is more than becoming increasingly unhinged. I saw his painful and disturbing interview with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday and it was beyond cringe-worthy.
What happened to him? He was a star prosecutor for SDNY early in his career, but to look at him now one would never know he was capable of honorable service.
If I could deliver a message to the House committee chairs that he will be appearing in front of it would be this: Cut him zero slack, and the very first time he is contemptuous of your committee's charge, stop the hearing and hold him in contempt. Enough is enough.
5
Whether the inquiry for materials leading to impeaching this President is successful or not, with its temporary as well as more permanent consequences for America as a democracy, it’s diverse People, and as a divided nation, given reality’s ever-present interacting uncertainties, unpredictabilities, random outcomes, and lack of total control, notwithstanding one’s efforts- timely or not-personal unaccountability by America’s policymakers is likely to continue.
This ever-present challenge, and toxic active pathological state, to the necessary values, norms and ethics which underpin democracies’ vitality enables corrosive complacency. Complicity’s corruption. An historical to present day WE-THEY violating culture.
“WE the people...” do not directly elect our Congressional, Senate, President, lifetime Supreme Court Justices.
THEY, once elected, may or may not choose to represent both OUR and democracies’ needs. Values. Norms. Ethics.
THEY may, and all too often DO, choose to satisfy their own personal needs, being unaccountable to US. Which, by passive or active choices, each of US allows. Enables.
The Trumps, Giulianis, Barrs,McConnells, , will pass.Their associated harms to...are temporary or more permanent. Which each of US enables.
What dimensions in America’s democracy will pass on? Be transmitted to the next generations? To their enabled Trumps? Giulianis? Barr’s? Millers? McConnells?Kavanaughs? What walls, barriers? Bridges? What compassion or caging of kids?
1
The article says that Rep. Schiff "arguably exaggerated Mr. Trump’s words."
I have yet to see such an argument. I've seen assertions that Schiff was somehow untruthful but with zero specifics.
Show us where Schiff misstated Trump or keep quiet!
5
I think it would be better to grill Giuliani in a closed session, outside of the public limelight that he and Republicans crave.
From what I've seen of public interviews with him, he, like many of Trump's spokespeople (e.g. Kellyanne Conway and more recently Stephen Miller), talks aggressively (arguing and interrupting the interviewers to talk over them if he doesn't like the questions) and speaking very very quickly so as not to allow the interviewers enough time to digest and formulate a response to his diatribes, changing the subject often while repeating talking points louder and louder.
This seems to be a common pattern among Trump's apologists.
6
Giuliani may claim attorney client privilage while Trump may claim executive privilage. It is quite possible that the courts may need to sort these issues out. I don't know how that process coincides with the expanded power of Congress during impeachment. Perhaps someone could explain how that could expedite the process.
2
Separate for the impeachment inquiry of Mr. Trump is the potential that people close to him, e.g., Pompeo, Barr, Guiliani and perhaps many others may face criminal jeopardy for there behavior.
My concern: who will investigate these persons and determine if any will face criminal charges? Obviously Barr may be the subject of such inquiry. Thus far he’s not even recused himself from any aspect of the impeachment inquiry. Do we need another special counsel, someone with equal integrity to Robert Mueller? Is any one or any entity going to lead these investigations? Right now the focus is on impeachment, as it should be, but we shouldn’t permit potential criminal behavior to go unchecked. Who can we trust to do this?
17
I never gave any thought to Rudy Giuliani when he was Mayor of New York City.
But after seeing him maintain such a calmness, coolness, and collective stronghold on the situation throughout that day on 9/11, I was incredibly impressed and moved.
He didn’t ran around like a chicken minus its head. He did not panic. He did not run and hide.
I thought he did an incredible job of keeping the city together in the midst of such tragedy and chaos.
And then there is today and all of the days that subsequently followed.
I am ashamed of how far he has fallen from grace, but more importantly, how his loyalties have shifted to the extreme of supporting someone who is guided by his own self-interest rather than what is best for this country.
I held this mayor in such high regard and esteem because of how he carried himself and NYC on 9/11. Even though I am greatly disappointed and dismayed by him these past few years, I will always remember how effective he was that day when he truly was an effective leader.
Sadly, I do not even recognize this guy these days.
8
@Marge Keller, I would suggest that this is the guy I recognize, the roughshod rider over the city before 9/11 and everything since. The four months following 9/11 were the anomaly when he rose above his limitations and actually became the mayor of all New Yorkers.
3
@Marge Keller
Rudy should have quit while he was ahead.
4
“I would have no choice but to take it up,” Mr. McConnell said on CNBC.
But he meant, 'However, as to timing, I don't think it's right to bring it up in an election year. We should let the American people decide.'
9
@Observor, he qualified the quote you cite with something about the timing of it, so I expect this to be taken up at a time of his choosing (and probably Trump's) when he can try to sweep it under whatever rug is convenient. Democrats should plan for this dodge and have their political ammo ready to fight it when it comes around - which it do doubt will.
3
The sad fact is Americans have become desensitized to Trump's outrageous actions because of the out of the box things he's said. For example he uses his twitter account to illegally threaten the whistle blower and imply that he/she and any government employee who provided the whistle blower information are spies involved in treason and should be physically harmed. Trump tweets that the whistle blower was wrong and that his call with Zekensky was "perfect" when all you have to do is read the released call memo to see that Trump clearly solicited help from a foreign power to smear his political opponent in the upcoming election; totally illegal.
With this type of behavior going unchecked Americans start to accept that Trump can say anything he wants no matter how threatening or false and have no consequences. They start to question what's right and wrong and believe that Trump is above the law as the DOJ OLC memo asserts. So logically why investigate him if after all as Mueller conceded in the report they didn't even consider determining if he should be charged since Trump is above the law.
Things are getting crazy. The president is above the law, can say whatever and threaten whoever he wants and faces no consequences.
5
So House Democrats will subpoena Giuliani.
Does anyone really believe joker G will honor the subpoena?
So far no one has and there haven't been any consequences like arresting the people ignoring those subpoenas.
Can you imagine what would happen if "average" Joe or Jane would ignore a subpoena? We would immediately be arrested and imprisoned.
But not these criminals. So Joker G will just go on his merry way and stay trump's hired hand.
6
@Pataman We shall see. Trump did release the call summary and the whistle-blower's complaint was also released.
One of the current right-wing talking points is that the House hasn't taken a vote on opening an official impeachment investigation. Talk about inside baseball!
But perhaps there is some importance to this. Maybe if Rudy defies the subpoena they'll have the vote since it might strengthen their hand in enforcing the subpoena.
Is it true that ignoring a subpoena results in immediate arrest? Somebody out there must know.
1
@Pataman, point well taken. There must indeed be consequences, especially after the Lewandowski fiasco (a situation which must never be repeated). Half measures will avail us nothing. Failure to act decisively will be equal to abject failure.
1
Just a theoretical question here ... in the event that Rudy will be convicted of a very serious crime, would he be going to a “nice” Federal Prison ?
Or would they just put him in a normal one ?
4
Pompeo was in Saudi Arabia with the Crown Prince a couple of weeks ago. The Crown Prince got his photo op, and more weapons not long before that.What did Pompe get?
16
If what Trump is asking Guilliani to do is illegal, then isn't it grounds for Guilliani's disbarment?
It's my understanding that lawyers aren't permitted to commit illegal acts for their client.
11
As an Independent and a taxpayer, I'm outraged DJT is using taxpayer monies for revenge and re-election purposes! With that said, I'm not an attorney, but when Gulliani shared several text communications with former ambassador to Ukraine on the entertainment show Fox & Friends, didn't he waive attorney-client privileges by doing that? This, in addition to DJT having included Gulliani, AG Bill Barr, and now Pompeo when on the phone with Ukraine President? If nothing else, DJT has continuiously proven fish rot from the head down in this administration...
15
cannot wait for Rudy, Barr and Pompeo to be charged with treason as they attempt to discredit US intelligence agencies.
14
The picture of Rudy behind bars, screaming his head off, makes my little heart go pitter patter.
9
"Mr. Guiliani now faces a choice: Either he can hand over material under subpoena that could help build the case against the president, or refuse and help build a possible impeachment article based on obstruction of Congress. The chairmen gave Mr. Giuliani about two weeks, until Oct. 15, to comply."
This is the way to legally back people into a corner.
". . . failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry and may be used as an adverse inference against you and the president"
Truly comforting music to my ears compared to the loud yapping of Trump's denials and name calling.
35
GOP is using impeachment inquiry as a fundraising tool for 2020...and its working! They are raking in cash. I wonder if donors understand the precedent this sets. Do they want to give this much power to one man? He is steadily eroding power of all branches of government. He is going to foreign countries and asking them to discredit our own intelligence. Why would anyone believe our intel if we don't even believe it? He is hiding information from the public in secret computers. He is lying to us every single day and chasing wild conspiracies. He is using tax payer dollars as leverage for political gain. He is using the government to enrich himself. So many that surround him have been jailed, indicted, fired or resigned in scandal. And we respond to all this by sending him more money?
10
@Alk
There is no correlation between money and truth.
4
@Alk You can add to your list illegally transferring billions from congressionally-approved and sorely-needed military infrastructure projects to his private wall-building project.
4
@Alk asked, "And we respond to all this by sending him more money?" I don't, but obviously a fair percentage of deluded people do.
2
Well, the very stable genius' conversations with leaders of other nations are always perfect, although they cost the tax payers of those nation quite a bit.
For every conversation, these foreign leader need to pay two interpreters, the first one translating his word salad into correct English, and a second one translating it into the native language of said leader.
11
Who has been footing the bill for all Giuliani’s trips? Surely not the US taxpayer.
9
@Robin Friday
My guess, based on the people involved, is that there is a lot of dark, right wing swamp money paying for all these people. It’s not likely to be the Prez himself.
4
The tweet attacking Adam Schiff is also an abuse of power. As has been every insulting and veiled threat since the election. Presidents don't have First Amendment writes to threaten because they can’t separate themselves from their office. They are always Commander in Chief if the military and federal law enforcement. And the First Amendment never protects defamation. If nothing else, every person targeted in a Tweet should be suing for libel. Now. Candidate Trump said he wanted to make it easier to sue for defamation. Alas he didn’t make good on that promise. But the law as it is will be enough. And the defamation suits will tie up Rudy too.
16
Giuliani like so many of Trump's cronies continue to show loyalty to him, when they should be showing loyalty to the country, not the man.
8
Explain how administration officials can defy Congressional subpoenas.
7
@NB
They just don't do it, and then, thumbing their noses, say 'So sue me.'
1
@NB. Because they would have to be enforced my the Trump Justice Department and if they stall there’s not much the Congress can do other than impeach Barr.
5
@NBFrom what I understand, once a subpoena is ignored, then Congress goes to the Atty General,who is Barr, and nothing will be done or if it is it goes to court which will take months and months. I'm not certain if this applies only to federal employees. If so, since Rudy is a private citizen, it might not apply to him and Congress can press charges.
2
Folks aren’t impressed with alleged Republican Rectitude when Mr. Trump, and Mr. Giuliani, abandon persuasion to take on the personae of Phineas T. Bluster (Mr. Bluster).
3
So, exaggerating (perhaps) Donald's wrongdoing is treason? That's mighty rich, coming from a person who exaggerates or blatantly lies about everything and everyone every day. As for the whistle-blower, I hope she/he avoids Fifth Avenue.
15
Does anybody think mitch, would let an impeachment vote go before “his” senate?
Does anybody really think rudy will do anything but babble incoherently as he does anytime he gets in front of a TV camera?
Does anybody think Barr will tell the unredacted truth?
Ditto, pompeo, mulvaney, etc.
6
@George, I don't expect the truth from these guys, but I will say a couple of things:
1. McConnell has no choice but to allow removal debate and voting.
2. Even the most restrained liar cane tripped up under the pressure of repeat, public questioning. Giuliani can barely find his way to the corner without contradicting himself. I expect quite the information flow, unintentional but real, from that clown.
5
Does anyone think that your suppositions are the last word on an investigation that is metastasizing as we write? Please remember that past performance does not guarantee future results.
2
It’s a real tragedy that this circus of clowns is now the defacto headline in the U.S every day (and by extension, the headline in much of the world).
Formerly rational Republicans foam at the mouth to defend behaviour they would have called abhorrent only 3 years ago. How do they possibly come back from this behaviour when this administration (as all administrations do) passes?
16
@IJJ, I question the entire concept of Republican rationality. Consider this conundrum leading to an oxymoron: Reagan said "Government is the problem," and Reagan is a Republican god; yet Republicans want to inhabit every aspect of government. Thus, they want to be part of the problem. Explain hoiw this is rational.
1
Giuliani is an interesting case as he is Trump’s lawyer but is paid for by Putin through those conferences about Russian commerce . Heb doesn’t do legal work but fixes things some times impersonating a State Department official.Would like to claim Attorney Client privileged but that is not applicable in a criminal relationship. And he can not stop talking.
6
We always knew trump was corrupt and Rudy was his most corrupt side kick once Cohen was thrown in the slammer. But here we are now, it looks like the corruption is deeply entrenched at the highest levels with Barr and Pompeo in the middle of it all. Its just really depressing and republicans quid pro quotes mantra is taking hold of the minions.
11
Given the confidentiality associated with the attorney/client relationship I don't see how the Dems are going to get anything useful out of Rudy unless Rudy is Rudy and runs his mouth uncontrollably.
3
@MIKEinNYC He already has. He's spoken about a lot of this stuff. I'm no lawyer but I do believe that once you've spoken publicly about a matter it becomes much harder to assert privilege.
1
I agree with Trump “This whole presidency has been a disgrace”.
10
The dissembling by Trump and his hooligans resembles a script written by Mel Brooks!
15
@Lost In A Red State
Except this is not funny.
5
Pataman, I agree with you - it’s not funny!
I can't wait to see him in handcuffs.
20
@BKLYNJ
Trump or Giuliani ?
Giuliani was waving his, so called, sworn Ukrainian affidavits all over the weekend news programs.
Hand them over.
12
“Though”: NO!
It’s clear that Trump is trying to get sanctions removed from Russia. That’s why Barr, Giuliani, Pompeo et al. are all working to discredit Mueller's investigation and his indictment of Russians, and it’s also why Ukraine is being pressured by Trump to cut a deal with Putin.
The question is why? What has Putin promised and/or threatened Trump in return for removing sanctions? Maybe the translators during the meetings with Putin will know?
45
@James
Yep, all roads back lead to Russia sanctions.
Trump's boss, Putin, must really have some crippling kompromat on him.
And the GOP might want to start looking at the source of all that NRA money is flowing into their campaign coffers.
Wasn't it reported that the NRA in serious financial trouble recently?
Yet they still have plenty of funds to give to the GOP?
5
@James That is the crux of the situation. I can't think in the way these crooks think, so I can't come up with what Putin has over Trump, but it is obvious there is something really big!
1
@JM I don't think they even need kompromat on Trump. He is so easy to butter up.
1
Apparent Lindsey Graham is saying that Trump withheld funds from Ukraine earlier this year in order to get help for Barr’s investigation of the Ukraine sources to 2016 election interferences information. It looks like they shut down investigations of Manafort.
There is also a possibility they want to find out in order to leak sources to Russia. Given the power of the Barr DOJ going after Russian interference sources, I don’t know whether we have a chance in heck of ever having a legitimate election. They plan to get political payback any way they can.
Those democrats shy about impeachment should understand that republicans are doing Russia a favor as we speak.
33
@Dr. Girls
I don't think that any Democrats in the House are 'shy' about impeachment.
Nancy Pelosi already has more than a simple majority who are for impeachment. Her being one the best vote counters ever, she only wants to protects members of purple districts up for re-election of keeping their seat.
The very same happened during the vote for the ACA and proves that she is indeed a very stable genius.
6
@Dr. Girls
And don't forget, withholding the funds to Ukraine not only allowed Trump to manipulate for his own political gain, but also helped Russia. That is a fact that seems to be getting lost. Those monies to Ukraine were for fighting RUSSIA.
5
Giuliani has totally lost it. He keeps reversing himself. He spins as no one else can. I can't believe the stories he tells. I can't wait to see how he conducts himself under questioning by congress. If he refuses to answer, put him in jail for contempt. The White House has no cohesive plan to deal with the impeachment inquiry. Eventually some will leak more transgressions to the press and the house of cards will fall. Maybe even some Republicans will be convinced to impeach Trump, but based on the stories told on the news media this past weekend the web of falsehoods is getting bigger and bigger. McCarthy, Miller, Jordan - they don't have their facts straight. I can't believe some of the things they are saying. These folks are the fake news, and they don't even answer the questions posed to them. Because they can't!!!!
27
Chaos and deflection is a strategy and they’re pretty effective at it.
3
@Chris hopefully we WON'T have to see Giuliani on TV and that this is done in a closed hearing. Otherwise it will be quite a spectacle. I remember James Comey said the most unsafe place to be is between Giuliani and a microphone.
3
@Chris I. Giuliani can’t believe the stories he tells either. That’s why he keeps spinning. His story is on the potter’s wheel and he keeps the spinning going until it takes the shape he thinks might be at least be plausible.
2
I am not sure how US law works. Is there a prohibition against the insane acting as witnesses? Mr. Giuliani is clearly not quite right in the head, nor for that matter, is Mr. Trump. If Mr. Giuliani ever does appear in the House of Representatives to testify, the Sergeant at Arms may need to frisk all the Republican members to make sure none has smuggled in a thorazine dart gun to calm Giuliani down.
One thing is for certain, the American House of Representatives and the British House of Commons are going to be providing some of the best televised entertainment seen in decades. My only dread is that some overweight, flaxen-wild-haired stumblebum is going to appear as the head of some Swedish conservative party. Egads! Will we have the wisdom to toss him into the Baltic in time?
35
@Scott
If the Republicans had a" thorazine dart gun ", they would have used it on Trump long ago.
@Scott
No psychotropic medication can cure Rudy. Only general anesthesia can stop him from saying stupid things and further implicating both himself and Donald in seriously illegal activities.
Both of those clowns have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Lacking insight into their condition and lacking any motivation to change, they will continue their antics until they are legally required to stop.
By the way, Thorazine is as obsolete as the horse drawn covered wagon. It is rarely used outside of the back wards of State Hospitals. Newer drugs with less side effects include Risperidone, Olanzapine, Qutiapine, Aripiprazole.
1
If Rudy is Trump's personal lawyer, then why are we, the tax-payers, footing the bill for him to race around the world trying to "find dirt" on those that Trump calls his "enemies"?
55
@rosa
good question. Giuliani showed read the Watergate papers. It was the lawyers that went to jail
6
Dear Mr. Giuliani,
How does it feel to follow in Michael Cohen's footsteps?
24
The current White House tenant is about to receive an eviction notice- ironic as that sounds! Meanwhile the REPUBS in Congress are clearly having a difficult time spinning and they're all scrambling over @ Fox Prime Time.
We'll be entertained @ the supermarket checkout line for the next few months.
15
An American president tried to leverage a foreign power by withholding US military aid to find dirt on his political opponent.
Makes Nixon's impeachment look tame by comparison. Meanwhile GOP and Trump's cult members try to win their case by claiming that:
A. It didn't happen (false, actual records, transcripts proved it DID happen
B: Whistleblower only had "Third hand" knowledge (false, new reports shows he had "First and Second hand knowledge)
C. No cover up (false, Trump staff ordered all records into lockdown after the call realizing the impeachable offense)
30
I don't trust Rudy as far as I can throw him to provide any records. He has probably already shredded crucial documents.
44
Mr. Giuliani’s activities may take him from being America’s Mayor to America’s Defendant.
17
@mark
You'll never hear a useful word from him as a subpoenaed witness.
1
I’m sure international intel agencies have been observing & recording this Scooby Doo Wannabe for a while.
I’m certain his case file is THICK
4
The first document he should turn over is the sworn affidavit by the Ukrainian prosecutor who got pushed out by Biden.
The affidavit states under perjury that he was forced out because he was investigating the company that Biden’s son runs as a board member, despite having zero experience with Ukraine and zero experience with energy.
Let’s start with that - actual first hand evidence. Instead of the third hand hearsay that forms the entirety of the whistleblower complaint.
3
@Jay Lincoln
The Ukrainian prosecutor is clearly making this up for the benefit of just who? The prosecutor was pushed out because he was NOT investigating corruption at all - and with the full weight of the European Union behind it. More investigation was wanted, not less. He had stopped investigation Burisma long before this push to remove him happened. The timeline disputes this manufactured "evidence"... as does a multitude of actual facts.
30
@Jay Lincoln
The Dems will do anything to push Trump out except beat him in an election.
2
@Jay Lincoln I've been thinking a lot about the "secondhand knowledge" or "hearsay" arguments put forward by Trump supporters. The whistleblower is a CIA officer. How often do the CIA and FBI, or law enforcement, for that matter, use first-person evidence to bring charges, indict, or subpoena alleged criminals? How often do they use reports from witnesses who do have first-hand knowledge? The whistleblower has reports from witnesses with first-hand knowledge, and that knowledge was carefully corroborated. This is how law enforcement works. Rarely is the officer a first-hand witness to the events. Also, while I don't know this to be the fact, it's possible that the whistleblower is reporting as a means of protecting the first-hand witnesses.
16
Clearly, a new law prohibiting the White House from seeking the identity of a whistle blower is needed, and it should include a prohibition against threatening reprisals. It’s amazing that there is no such law.
48
@Brenda Snow
Apparently we didn’t need such a law before the trump era.
17
@Brenda Snow Amazing...we haven't had one because we never needed one so badly. The President is the one who is supposed to protect any whistleblower from reprisals...no one ever thought we'd have a president such as this one who is actually issuing the threats.
18
@Brenda Snow
No way! Someone who runs a mouth setting forth triple hearsay information should have the courage to be identified. If this goes father then Trump has an absolute right to confront his accuser.
1
Where Giuliani goes a circus act follows. It’s a bit similar to Rick Wilson’s Whatever Trump Touches Dies.
Giuliani is no credible witness but House Republicans in their craven fealty will rush to defend his unlawful behavior, continue to yell, bully and outshoot any democrat who disagrees with them. They love spectacle as much as their dear leader.
It will be their show: the Trump and Trump Party reality tv show starring corrupt and morally reprehensible “Republicans” vs. The Rule of Law.”
Are the people of this country like Roman spectators being entertained as gladiators were thrown to the lions?
39
@Affirm They should NOT, I repeat NOT call Rudy Giuliani in to testify. He will babble, and ramble and confuse and distort. Truthful testimony will NOT be given. The man is a craven shell of his former self. His testimony will be a wild and demented ramble of the worst sort of long debunked conspiracy fantasies. Don't give him another minute to spread such ridiculous notions.
5
@Mary
From my comment you replied to, you might realize that I agree with your point by what I wrote!
1
@Mary Well that's just silly. Let him babble and lie. The key is in good questioning, force him to explain his babble, which he won't be able to do.
As for lying, we call it perjury in these situations. I know Barr won't prosecute but I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations won't have been reached by January 2021.
How could they not subpoena Giuliani? He was on national television claiming the State Department directed him to seek dirt on Joe Biden. He even held up his cellphone saying he had the messages to prove it. Rudy Giuliani needs a lawyer. He better hope for a better lawyer than Rudy Giuliani.
125
While the President is “trying to find out” the identity of the whistleblower:
1. He is not promoting integrity in government by chilling other whistleblower reporting of alleged wrongdoing (which Presidents had quaintly viewed as part of their oath to uphold the Rule of Law);
2. May have already or soon be
engaged in alleged whistleblower retaliation;
3. Especially if the whistleblower hesitates, delays or refuses to further
cooperate, may have engaged in alleged witness tampering.
If Mr. Trump resigns and Mr. Pence pardons him:
A) prior non-prosecution does not prevent future prosecution; and
B) Any pardon would not immunize (I) any federal prosecutions beyond the scope of the pardon, or (II) any state prosecutions at all—if either is brought within the statute of limitations (which may be tolled while Mr.Trump is President).
Mr. Trump’s only hope may lie in re-election, which would delay prosecutions. Thus he may decide to take extreme measures—which might bear the unpleasant, unintended but foreseeable consequence (for him) of further inflaming the public, thus enlarging what may already be his considerable impeachment-conviction and alleged criminal liability exposure.
9
Rudy needs a therapist and a priest in addition to a lawyer.
10
Giuliani conveniently forgets that he is prohibited by law from acting on behalf of the United States government whether that is the President or the State Department or the Justice Department. In essence when Rudy The Court Jester said he was working on behalf of the State Department he admitted to committing a crime. I am going to love this when Rudy testifies before Congress. If the Republicans will not self-censor, it's up to the Democrats in the US House to shine a spotlight on the illegal shadow government at the "Southern White House" and in NYC. These friendly-advisors are acting illegally, especially when they start talking to foreign governments to influence policy and set up meetings. Private citizens are prohibited by law!
79
You couldn't make this stuff up. Is this the same Rudy that was at one time a noted prosecutor? Is this the same Rudy that was mayor of New York during 9-11? Perhaps his affairs were a clue to the future.
He and Trump share the same need to be in the spotlight. Not unlike a unruly child that acts out for attention.
Imagine the feast Republicans would be having if the President were a Democrat behaving exactly as Trump. They would have impeached and convicted him in the two years they held both Houses.
Politicians and hypocrisy go hand in hand but Republicans have taken it to a new level. Law and order, respect for traditions, family values, duty-honor-country, remember those?
If a Democrat President acted half as rashly as Trump the Republicans would be screaming with outrage.
95
@mike
Rudy has tarnished his legacy. He could have been remembered as the mayor who stood in a hard-hat near Ground Zero, as the mayor who walked the fatherless daughter of a 9/11 victim down the aisle at her wedding, shortly after her father was killed in the twin towers.
His legacy could have been greater than most, to New Yorkers who lived through the terror and trauma of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As a New Yorker, I am finding it hard to reconcile the Rudy he has become with the Rudy he appeared to be on 9/11 and in the months after 9/11.
1
Avoiding a subpoena Giuliani should be held in contempt of congress and jailed. I believe that is possible though I my be wrong.
57
My guess is that Rudy will burn the subpoena on a Fox and Friends episode, flip off the House Subcommittee, and blame the entire witch hunt on the far left socialist deep state. Rudy and the very concept of how our government is supposed to work parted ways long ago.
87
Please, PLEASE, House Committees: ensure that the people questioning Rudy are seasoned veterans. Rudy's wily, erratic, combative, bellicose ways will be on fully display. Our country's democracy depends on you!
157
The House Committee might best not call Mr. Giuliani at all.
He would be disruptive, contemptuous and unhelpful. His and other documents can tell much of the story.
And in the time between now and Articles of Impeachment likely in the next 60 days or so, the House can get testimony about him and in general from others.
Of course, he might decide to flip in an effort to save his skin. Yet the likelihood of that ranks with the sun rising in the West, and Mr. Trump being out for anyone but himself.
3