Rudy Giuliani hits the panic button, begins making ridiculous threats
In what can only be considered a form of (not so subtly) veiled threats or extortion, the “back off now or suffer the consequences” Rudy Giuliani, the apparently two-bit mobster wannabe consigliere persona fully apparent, threatened Special Counsel Robert Mueller if he doesn’t shut the investigation down, or else. On Saturday morning, Giuliani tweeted:
“Just a few days before 60-day run-up to 2018 elections. If Mueller wants to show he’s not partisan, then issue a report on collusion and obstruction. They will show President Trump did nothing wrong. Then we will have to admit you were fair. And we will.” For anyone, this behavior is reprehensible. But for a former Department of Justice employee and uber prosecutor of the Mafia and other assorted ne’er-do-wells, it is breathtaking in its audacity and in its content. What Giuliani is stating, with no room for error, is that only if Mueller produces reports in the next week completely vindicating Donald Trump will Mueller have been deemed to be “fair.”
What can one make of this, except the obvious- Trump has been outed as an unindicted co-conspirator. His fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty and gave the goods and will continue to do so. In addition, according to the investigation, the evidence is also corroborating what was collected from Cohen’s residences and offices. David Pecker has been given immunity and appears to be talking and implicating Trump. Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s bagman for many years going back to Trump’s dad, has been given immunity and is telling what he knows. Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight counts and his next trial begins in September.
The reaction to all of this activity (and likely more to come in the next week or so) is to subtly threaten that the investigation be shut down. It is a not very veiled threat to stop the investigation from getting to the logical end, where Donald Trump will really be in trouble. Robert Mueller will not be intimidated, and the “show will go on” if he is terminated. Perhaps Mueller ought to pull a “September surprise” and test the undetermined question of whether a sitting president can be indicted. Bypass the feckless Republican Congress, who will not impeach, and call their bluff.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.