Rudy To The Rescue?
By NBP Staff | April 19, 2018, 18:58 EDT
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is joining President Donald Trump’s legal team with an eye to helping the president put an end to the Russia investigation.
Giuliani, a longtime friend of Trump’s who logged long hours as a television surrogate during the campaign in 2016, was widely thought to be an inside-track candidate for an important Cabinet position in the administration last year, but didn’t get what he wanted and so stayed on the outside.
But Giuliani has remained a supporter of the president, and he may yet be in line for a high-level position in the administration.
Giuliani joins a legal team headed by Jay Sekulow. Former federal prosecutors Marty Raskin and Jane Serene Raskin are also joining Trump’s outside counsel team.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of collusion between Russia and the 2016 Trump presidential campaign is widely thought to be nearing a climax, but it’s unclear what Mueller has planned.
“I’m doing it because I hope we can negotiate an end to this for the good of the country and because I have high regard for the president and for Bob Mueller,” Giuliani said in an interview with The Washington Post, which first reported Giuliani’s move.
Giuliani served as associate attorney general, the third highest position in the U.S. Department of Justice, early in the Reagan administration, and later was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is one of the most high-profile prosecuting roles in the country. While there he was known for taking on the mafia and Wall Street financiers, including prominent cases that helped increase his public profile.
Giuliani served as mayor of New York City from 1994 through 2001. He became famous for cracking down on crime and, later, for leading the city through the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 and the aftermath.
He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2008, and for a time was seen as a major contender. His support for legal abortion and pro-homosexuality advocacy hurt him with segments of the GOP base, however, and unflattering reports in the media about his romantic relationships and billing practices as mayor hurt him in the polls. After coming in fourth in New Hampshire and third in Florida, he withdrew.
After the 2016 election Giuliani was reportedly a serious candidate for U.S. Attorney General, but he reportedly was mostly interested in becoming Secretary of State. When that post went to Rex Tillerson (since ousted), Giuliani bowed out of consideration as a member of Trump’s Cabinet.