Personal lawyer to the president and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani may have publicly blackmailed his client, President Donald Trump, during an appearance on Fox News on Saturday, a Georgetown University Law Center professor says.
The comments were made by Georgetown Law Professor Marty Lederman in a tweet sent early Saturday afternoon and were first noticed in a recap of the Fox News exchange published by Law & Crime .
“Law students, take note: It’s not a great idea for an attorney (i) to repeatedly tweet in a way (‘I was only acting for my client’) that undermines your client’s interests, nor (ii) to publicly blackmail your client w/insinuations that you have info that would harm him,” Lederman tweeted.
In an interview on Saturday morning on Fox News, Giuliani was asked about the investigations into his foreign business dealings and associates and whether he discussed the investigations into him with his employer, the President of the United States.
“I do not discuss conversations with my client. You can assume that I talk to him early and often and have a very very good relationship with him,” Giuliani said during an appearance on Fox News HQ .
“And all of these comments – which are totally insulting – I’ve seen things written like, ‘he’s gonna throw me under the bus.’ When they say that, I say, ‘he isn’t, but I have insurance.’”
It was the comment about having “insurance” on President Trump that had some wondering whether the president’s lawyer was indicating that he had some sort of information, dirt, or even blackmail that would prevent the president from turning on him in case of a criminal investigation or charges.
WOW: @RudyGiuliani seems to suggest he has dirt that would prevent TRUMP from turning on him: “I’ve seen things written like ‘he is going to throw me under the bus.’ When they say that, I say ‘he isn’t, but I have insurance.” Asserts he as a “very good relationship” with Trump. pic.twitter.com/cD70LM5EJq
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) November 23, 2019
The tweet, which was framed as a message to law students, garnered some 1,200 retweets and 4,600 likes in the first several hours it was put on the website. Other legal experts also questioned Giuliani’s weekend statements, per Law & Crime.
According to MSNBC , the former New York City politician has faced troubled times in recent history, which has included testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, which seemed to indicate that Giuliani had a major role in orchestrating the president’s current situation with Ukraine, which is the subject of the current House impeachment inquiry.
Per the MSNBC report, federal prosecutors have issued subpoenas for the president’s fundraising apparatus as part of its investigation into two Giuliani associates – Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman – who were arrested by federal authorities in October. The prosecutors are also reportedly investigating whether the president’s personal lawyer violated federal lobbying law in his dealings with Ukrainians.
Investigators are reportedly looking into whether Giuliani stood to make financial gains from a natural-gas business deal being pushed by Parnas and Fruman in Ukraine. He is also reportedly under investigation for possible campaign finance law violations and failure to register as a foreign agent, MSBNC reported.
Giuliani has denied any allegations of wrongdoing.