Giuliani's long quest to put himself in legal jeopardy appears to have paid off

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/28/giulianis-long-quest-put-himself-legal-jeopardy-appears-have-paid-off/

For years, a question has been on the lips of many political watchers: What’s up with Rudolph W. Giuliani? The man who, as New York mayor, built a bipartisan reputation as “America’s mayor” had suddenly refashioned himself as a hatchet man for President Donald Trump and a spokesman for some of Trump’s worst conspiratorial impulses. Whatever one thought of Giuliani’s methods or of all being fair in political war, he surely sacrificed his legacy in the process. The big remaining question was how much he might have sacrificed even more than that, given the potential legal jeopardy involved in some of his pursuits.

On Wednesday, we got a sense of how much trouble he might indeed have landed himself in. The Washington Post confirmed federal investigators had executed a search warrant at Giuliani’s home (the news was first reported by the New York Times). It’s the biggest indication to date of the seriousness of a long-known investigation of Giuliani’s lobbying, particularly vis-a-vis Ukraine.

But Ukraine is hardly the only issue on which Giuliani has flown close to the sun in recent years — and now faces the legal problems that come with it. In some ways, he seemed to have been begging for such scrutiny.

The Ukraine effort is certainly first and foremost, and it carries huge political significance given that it is the issue over which Trump was impeached for the first time in late 2019. Essentially, investigators are looking into whether Giuliani’s efforts went beyond digging up political dirt in that country for his boss, and whether he might have also engaged in unauthorized lobbying on behalf of those with whom he suddenly found himself allied. Giuliani was particularly involved in efforts to discredit then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, whom his Ukrainian allies wanted to push out and who was eventually ousted with Giuliani’s input. Last summer, a top aide to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Giuliani’s contacts on the matter “deeply disturbing.”

*snip*

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. Once America's mayor

Now Trump's lackey.

[UTUSN]

2. K&R