What’s Going On With Rudy?

What’s Going On With Rudy?

Rudy Continues His Nosedive

By William Jones and D. S. Mitchell

Confiscated

In recent years, the image of Rudy Giuliani has sunk to lows unimaginable  two decades ago.  His legacy has been severely damaged by his connection to Donald Trump.  In his pursuit of  Trump’s approval, and every cent he could get his hands on, Rudy may have broken the law while trying to help the former president overturn the 2020 election and line his own pockets.  The FBI thinks there is evidence of crimes and they just confiscated Rudy’s personal and business devices.

Rudy’s Bio

Rudolf Giuliani was born on May 28th, 1944, in Brooklyn, New York; U.S.A. He attended Manhattan College as well as New York University. For over 50 years, Rudy Giuliani has served, city, state and national government in multiple capacities. Giuliani has also had a private law practice.

Giuliani’s entry into politics

Giuliani is a long time Republican. In 1993 he was narrowly elected Mayor of New York City.  Giuliani immediately began cracking down hard on petty criminals. He always urged police to take aggressive stances against even minor violations of the law. Giuliani was often referred to as “the Nanny of New York.” He claimed credit for reduced crime rates stating that civilization had found its way into the city.  Critics disregarded Giuliani, stating crime rates had decreased nationwide.  They also added that Giuliani was contributing to police abuse and corruption. Rudy was expected to run for the U.S. Senate in 2000, but due to some negative personal events he decided not to run.

High Point Amidst Disaster

On September 11, 2001, New York was attacked. The attack brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center leading to the death of over 2800 people. Giuliani received praise for his handling of the situation, and the aftermath. He even was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his conduct. In 2007 he announced that he would seek the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2008. However, in late January 2008, Giuliani withdrew from the race after finishing a distant third in Florida.

Tied To Donald Trump

Rudy Giuliani was an early enthusiastic supporter of  Donald Trump in his 2016 run for president. After Trump’s election, Giuliani jostled for several cabinet positions but was overlooked. He was later chosen as an ‘unofficial adviser on cyber security.’ In 2018 Giuliani was part of the legal team that represented President Donald Trump in the Special Counsel’s (Mueller) Investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.  After the Special Counsel declined to file charges against the then-President Trump Giuliani continued as the president’s ‘personal attorney’.

Ukrainian Mischief

In search of “dirt” on Trump’s anticipated rival in the 20220 election, Joe Biden, Giuliani became  involved in what was referred to as a backchannel between President Donald Trump and some not so kosher former Ukrainian officials. The allegations indicate that Giuliani engaged in efforts meant to pressure current Ukraine officials into launching multiple investigations into corruption by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The quid pro quo allegations and the firing of Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovich brought Trump and his associates, including Giuliani, under intense scrutiny.

The First Impeachment

An impeachment was launched by the House of Representatives against President Trump. Giuliani was portrayed as a key player in the scandal during the House proceedings. In December 2019, after being impeached, the door of hope opened for Trump in February 2020 when the Senate acquitted him. Time was not in his favor as Joe Biden defeated him by 7 million votes in November.

2020 Election Challenges

Following Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential election, Trump picked Giuliani to head his legal team  challenging the election results. Giuliani’s failure was notable, losing every case in every jurisdiction. The process was a total failure.

Giuliani’s Raided by the Feds

On Wednesday, April 28th, 2021, under the authority of a duly authorized search warrant Federal Agents raided Giuliani’s Manhattan home and office. Various gadgets were seized, including computers and cell phones.  It looks like the business dealings of Rudy Giuliani are under investigation. The Feds look serious. The FBI doesn’t execute search warrants on high profile individuals, especially lawyers, unless they are confident they will find incriminating evidence. Leaks indicate Giuliani may be under scrutiny for illegal money transfers, campaign finance fraud, and acting on the behalf of a foreign government, etc, etc, etc.  According to the prosecutors, the warrant, which required approval from the top levels of the judicial Department, and a federal judge, signifies that the government is convinced Giuliani has committed a federal crime(s).

Look Over There

Mr. Giuliani, in a statement after the seizure, denied any wrongdoing and argued that the search warrants demonstrated a “corrupt double standard” on the part of the Justice Department. Giuliani said he was being persecuted while the DOJ/FBI are ignoring  “blatant crimes” by Democrats, including Hillary Clinton and President Biden. He even stated the Feds refused to take evidence of crimes by Hunter Biden that Giuliani has in his possession.

Victoria Toensing
There was a third search warrant issued at the same time for the cell phone of  Washington lawyer Victoria Toensing.  Toensing is a former federal prosecutor and a close associate of Rudy Giuliani and former President Donald Trump. Her law firm issued a statement saying Toensing is not a target of the federal investigation.
The Evolving Situation
The full scope of the investigation is still  not clear.  On Thursday 29th April 2021, Donald Trump told Fox business that Giuliani was “the greatest mayor in the history of New York and a great patriot”. The White House press secretary said on CNN that the White House was given no heads up about the raid prior to its execution.
Orange Jumpsuits

Many of Trump’s allies have been trapped in federal investigations, and there are likely to be more on the horizon.  The big question becomes will Giuliani pull a Michael Cohen and ensnare the former president in criminal charges. Time will tell. Of course, these guys are all as old as dirt. Any could drop dead at any moment. Hopefully the AG gets them sentenced first.

https://www.calamitypolitics.com/2019/05/11/rudy-guilliani-moments-great-small/

Trump Attacks The FBI

The FBI is a world-famous crime fighting organization. It is synonymous with solid professionalism. I have never heard anyone say they didn’t want the FBI working their case after a crime has been committed.

The FBI is like all organizations, imperfect. In the post 9/11 era, its anti-terrorism focus was at times thought to be overzealous, generating complaints from multiple sources including minority communities, and civil libertarians. The fast and loose ways of the J.Edgar Hoover FBI are long gone. The infamous founder of the crime fighting agency was famous for pursuing personal vendettas and agendas. But since FBI Associate Director, Mark Felt was discovered to be “Deep Throat”, the secret source for the Washington’s Post’s insight into the corrupt Nixon administration, a large majority of Americans have viewed the FBI as an honest and neutral bulwark against criminals of all kinds, inside and outside of the government.

Last weekend, in a rush of tweets Trump took aim at targets old and new. Trump criticized the FBI and raised questions about the special prosecutor’s investigation into Russian election meddling and the possible ties to the Trump campaign.

In that storm of tweets, more than a dozen–came after his former NSA, Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. In one of his posts Trump once again denied that he had asked former FBI Director James Comey for a loyalty pledge, or directed him to stop investigating Flynn. Trump called the nation’s top law enforcement agency a biased institution whose reputation was “in Tatters–worst in History!” and urged FBI Director Chris Wray to “clean house.” Trump personally promised in his tweet meltdown to “bring it back to greatness.”

Eric Holder, former FBI Director, tweeted in response, “Nope. Not letting this go. The FBI’s reputation is not in ‘tatters.’ It’s composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked there and who do a great, apolitical job. You’ll find integrity and honesty at FBI headquarters and not at 1600 Penn Avenue right now.”

Trump had seized on reports that a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, Peter Strzok was removed by special counsel Mueller last summer after the discovery of an exchange of text messages that were viewed as potentially anti-Trump. The agent, had also worked on the investigation of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Continue reading

Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

Trump Moves Quickly To Reshape Appeals Courts

D. S. Mitchell

Sounds pretty boring, talking about the US judicial system. But here goes, because what Trump is doing could change court decisions in this country for the next two plus generations.

There are 179 judgeships on the US courts of appeals as authorized. The judges are all nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. These positions have lifetime terms.

Continue reading