An open letter to Rudy Giuliani
Dear Rudy Giuliani: it took some guts for you to finally admit to the New York Times today that you’ve screwed up Donald Trump’s legal defense. Now you’re already trying to walk it back on Twitter, in a sign that you’re more unsure of your next move than ever. I’ve got a piece of advice for you, and while you’re not going to like it, it’s the only viable option you have left.
Rudy, you know you’re going to end up indicted. You admitted on cable news months ago that the Department of Justice Inspector General is investigating how you ended up leaking FBI secrets about an ongoing investigation shortly before the election. You’re going to get nailed for conspiring to obstruct justice. And while it received far too little media attention, your former client Reza Zarrab quietly cut a plea deal last year just before Michael Flynn did. We’ve all seen you shilling for the government of Turkey, it’s not difficult to figure out that Zarrab has almost surely given you up for it.
We all know, Rudy, that you joined Donald Trump’s legal defense team in the hope of maneuvering things so that you wouldn’t end up getting indicted. But that would have required one of two things. If you could have coaxed Trump into a swift resignation, perhaps everyone would have wanted to move on from the investigation before your time came. Or if you could have saved Trump from this scandal, then perhaps he could have been in position to pardon you. But none of that happened. Trump’s ouster is a matter of when and not if – and since he didn’t even bother trying to pardon people closer to him like Michael Cohen, you’re not getting one either.
Rudy, you’re seventy-four years old. You can’t afford to go to prison on foreign agent and obstruction of justice charges; you’d never get out. Your only remaining option is to cut a plea deal with a short sentence. You can’t give up Trump for the crimes you’ve witnessed him committing since you became his lawyer. But you were close to him during the election, and you can give him up on all of that. You’ve also been a New York City insider long enough to know where Trump’s financial skeletons are buried. Cut a cooperating plea deal now, Rudy, while there are still semi-lenient deals to be had. Trump is going down. You don’t have to go with him. Save what’s left of your legacy. Save yourself. Save America from having to endure this any longer.
