The month of May has been a stunning venture into the surreal with Giuliani acting like a madman as he stumbles from interview to interview defending the president.
Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump’s legal team, has had quite the month.
He began the month on May 2nd by telling Fox News host Sean Hannity that Trump paid back his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, the $130,000 in hush money that was used to pay off Stormy Daniels.
Democratic Representative Led Lieu of California was quick to respond to the news, tweeting that there were “4 possible felonies” from Rudy Giuliani admission:
- $130k payment to Stormy was in-kind coordinated contribution above limits
- Cohen was a straw donor used to cover up true source of contribution
- False statements on financial disclosures
- False statements on banking forms
4 possible felonies from Rudy Giuliani admission:
1. $130k payment to Stormy was in-kind coordinated contribution above limits
2. Cohen was a straw donor used to cover up true source of contribution
3. False statements on financial disclosures
4. False statements on banking forms https://t.co/KysAF3X4te— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) May 3, 2018
Giuliani followed up a few days later by dropping four bombs during an interview by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
- Giuliani didn’t rule out the possibility that Trump would invoke the Fifth Amendment against self incrimination if he testifies before Robert Mueller or his team.
- Asked about the possibility of Trump getting subpoenaed by Mueller to testify, Giuliani answered: “We don’t have to” comply with a subpoena. “They don’t have a case on collusion, they don’t have obstruction… I’m going to walk him into a prosecution for perjury like Martha Stewart did?” Giuliani continued. “He’s the president of the United States. We can assert privilege other presidents [have].”
- Turning to the subject of Michael Cohen, Giuliani told Stephanopoulos that he fully expects Michael Cohen, Trump’s former long-time personal attorney, to cooperate with Robert Mueller, remarkably adding that he was unconcerned. “Michael Cohen doesn’t have any incriminating evidence on the president or himself,” Giuliani said, adding “He’s an honest, honorable lawyer.”
- Asked about the possibility that Trump had paid hush money to women other than Stormy Daniels, Giuliani responded: “I have no knowledge of that, but I would think if it was necessary, yes.”
Asked about the possibility of Trump getting subpoenaed by Mueller to testify, Giuliani answered: “We don’t have to” comply with a subpoena.
“They don’t have a case on collusion, they don’t have obstruction… I’m going to walk him into a prosecution for perjury like Martha Stewart did?” Giuliani continued. “He’s the president of the United States. We can assert privilege other presidents [have].”
All hell broke loose a couple of weeks later when CNN host Chris Cuomo asked Giuliani about remarks he made during an interview with Charlie Rose during the 1990s in which he emphatically stated that then-president Bill Clinton had to obey a subpoena during the Whitewater investigation.
Giuliani tried to qualify his statement claiming that he was speaking about a subpoena for documents and not about an “in person” subpoena. Cuomo wasn’t have any of it and, after having some words back and forth, he played the clip.
As the clip played, Giuliani could be seen waving his finger around, complaining that it was “unfair” for Cuomo to play that clip.
“That’s really unfair!” Giuliani complained, adding: “That’s extremely unfair what you’re doing right now! This is the reason people don’t come on this show! – with all that promoting of Avenatti, that ambulance chaser.”
However, as CNN reported today, there may be a method to Giuliani’s apparent madness.
He is ridiculed as ridiculous. He is attacked as around the bend. He is maligned as morally bereft in his unwavering defense of his old friend and client, President Donald Trump.
Yet Rudy Giuliani may just be crazy like a fox.
It turns out that he is doing exactly what the President — his own best strategist and communications specialist — brought him on board to do: chip away at public support for special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Continuing, CNN reported that “sources in the Trump orbit” told them that Trump recognizes the fact the Giuliani is helping him by taking on the role of aggressor – a position that Trump had been yearning for from his defense team up until now.
“If there is a room full of people trying to have a discussion, and there is a screaming baby, what is everyone going to think about? The screaming baby. Giuliani is the screaming baby,” explained one source familiar with this strategy.
Or, put another way, the same source said, “Who is going to get the most attention? The craziest guy in the room.”
CNN went on to report that “What is most remarkable about Giuliani’s strategy is how transparent it is.”
In an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” he admitted that his strategy is to erode public trust in the Mueller probe.
“[What] we are defending here is for public opinion because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach,” Giuliani told CNN. “Members of Congress, Democrat and Republican, will be informed a lot by their constituents. So, our jury — as it should be — is the American people.”
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