Rudy Giuliani has a proffer deal with the DOJ – and it’s lights out for Donald Trump and everyone else
Earlier this week multiple major news outlets reported that Rudy Giuliani had voluntarily sat for an interview with Jack Smith’s DOJ team – but the precise circumstances of the interview weren’t clear. Did Rudy merely offer to meet with the DOJ so he could pitch conspiracy theories that he thought cleared his name? Now it turns out it was a very different kind of meeting, and it comes down to one word: proffer.
The New York Times is reporting tonight that Giuliani’s meeting with the DOJ was the result of a proffer deal between the two parties. The point of a proffer deal is so that Giuliani can freely run his mouth during the interview and none of his words can be used against him, and the DOJ can evaluate what Giuliani has to offer as a potential witness. In other words, a proffer interview is a precursor to a cooperating plea deal or immunity deal.
This doesn’t mean that the DOJ has granted Giuliani a leniency deal or immunity deal. For all we know the DOJ may have considered Giuliani’s testimony to be unreliable and unusable, and it may have decided not to give Giuliani anything in return. But if Giuliani was able to provide actual evidence to support his claims – such as texts or recordings – it’s possible the DOJ may have indeed given him a leniency deal or even an immunity deal.
One thing that stands out about proffer interviews is that by their nature, they usually result in cooperation deals. Giuliani’s testimony during that interview can’t be used against him. But such an interview pretty much tells prosecutors where the proverbial bodies are buried, meaning prosecutors can probably now nail Giuliani pretty easily if he doesn’t decide to cooperate.
One interesting thing that stands out is that this Giuliani proffer interview has become public knowledge. Now that we know Giuliani is trying to cut a deal, it would be completely idiotic for him to turn around and blab to the media that he’s trying to cut a deal. His allies would turn against him, and prosecutors would find him less valuable going forward. Then again, Giuliani is an idiot, so it’s possible he is the media’s source on this.
It is possible that the DOJ strategically decided to tip off the media about Giuliani’s proffer session, in order to try to scare Giuliani’s counterparts into cutting deals of their own. After all, if Giuliani just gave up people like Sidney Powell and John Eastman, then they’ll have little choice but to give up whoever they can give up.
But in the end, this is all about taking down Donald Trump. Jack Smith will rightly give deals to anyone under Trump who’s willing and able to help take Trump down. Every Trump underling who flips is yet another person who will be testifying against Trump at Trump’s criminal trial.
