The Trump-Rudy schism just got even uglier
The House revealed that the call logs of Rudy Giuliani showed a substantial number of contacts between him and the White House. “President” Donald J. Trump and his administration are trying to distance themselves by silly arguments that do nothing but confirm that Giuliani was in regular contact with the White House in the days before the Ukraine matter at the heart of the impeachment of Trump.
As reported by the New York Times, the White House has been scrambling to argue that calls to a number listed in the disclosed logs as “O.M.B. number” is a more generic number that is used by the Office of Management and Budget, but also by others. It is not clear how that helps Trump, as they are not denying that Giuliani had numerous calls with the White House.
Giuliani has claimed it had zero to do with Ukraine, stating, “I never discussed military assistance. I am expert on so many things it could have been some very esoteric subject.” Giuliani has not given a list of what he is expert at, but perhaps it is really just being expert at hanging out with nefarious folks.
For example, reports of his trip to Ukraine include that he is hanging out at a haven for Kremlin spies while in Ukraine. Andrii Telizhenko tweeted a picture with him and Giuliani hanging out at the club, with a cryptic note about “conspiracy theorists.”
Who sent Giuliani to Ukraine to meet with folks with an interest in continuing to spin the debunked theory about Ukraine interference in the 2016 election, a story line that Vladimir Putin and Russia have continued to push, is unknown. But surely G-man’s future phone logs will reveal some of that information. Rudy appears not to be an expert in how to avoid criminal exposure.
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.