Rudy Giuliani could have stayed basically retired. He could have rested on his laurels as the former “America’s Mayor.” Instead he went to work for American history’s most chaotic president. What does he have to show for it? Only the destruction of his reputation, the suspension of his law license in New York and D.C., a few pricey lawsuits, and some mystery goo. Through it all he refused to throw Donald Trump under the bus to save his hide. His reward: possibly being thrown under the bus by Donald Trump.
In a new report by Rolling Stone, Trump advisers claim Trump and his team are already cooking up ways for him to weasel out of his third indictment, this one pertaining to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into his handling of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. (At the time the report emerged the indictment hadn’t yet been made public.) Trump has been claiming on Truth Social that he “did nothing wrong,” saying he was “advised by many lawyers.” Well, those lawyers might wind up taking the blame, as per RS:
The attorneys were acting on Trump’s behalf. But in this legal strategy, Team Trump would argue it was the lawyers leading Trump, rather than the other way around.
“It is an argument the [former] president likes, and the team is on board with it,” one Trump adviser bluntly says, then somewhat ominously adding: “John [Eastman] and Rudy [Giuliani] gave a lot of counsel … Other people can decide how sound it was.”
Even if Trump doesn’t turn on two of his lawyers — and c’mon, they guy would allegedly turn on his own kids — both Giuliani and Eastman are in big doo-doo. In late July Giuliani admitted in court filings that he knew the claims he was making about alleged Georgia election fraud was bunk. Meanwhile Eastman admitted to the Jan. 6 committee that he knew his plan to have Mike Pence overturn the election results was illegal, yet he pushed for it anyway.
Still, one of Trump’s former lawyers, Tim Parlatore, told RS that Trump’s alleged plan to blame Giuliani and Eastman is weak given the sheer number of people he was listening to at the time. Besides, using the “advice of counsel” line has its limits:
“[The ‘advice of counsel’ argument] has its limits. As a lawyer, I can’t tell my client: Look, there’s this obscure, ancient law that I found that says you can kill your wife. If the client goes out and kills his wife, it doesn’t really work if the client turns around and says, ‘Well, wait, my lawyer told me I could do that,’” says Steven Groves, who used to work as an attorney and then as a spokesman in the Trump White House.
So good job, Rudy. And good job, today’s GOP, who are once again rallying behind a guy who will reward his loyal cronies’ allegiance by turning them into Johnny Law.
(Via Rolling Stone)