He has no position in government, but he sure acts like he does.
We’re learning, on a near-daily basis, about the ways in which Rudy Giulaini has used official channels to pursue his own interests and those of his clients. And his most famous client, the President, has at times encouraged it.
This is how it works in the business world, a free wheeling exchange of deals, and it’s pretty much the wrong way to run a government. We need a well regulated system, where people follow the rules and know their roles, and most presidents have respected that, especially when dealing with a foreign nation. We have the Logan Act to stop people from doing unofficial diplomacy, and this should be a violation of it, but a shadow diplomat working for the president may not have been considered when the act was passed.
And, consider that the entire Trump administration is likely working this way…Rudy has been talking to other nations, and now Barr is out there (which is way out of scope for the AG), and who knows who else is doing it. His kids? Other buddies? It is unlikely that Ukraine is the only nation that was messed with this way, and it’s unlikely that this kine of BS didn’t happen inside the US. Even if impeachment is kept to just the Ukrainian case, the entire Trump administration needs to be examined top to bottom to determine how much bad stuff happened and how to make sure it can’t happen if we get another corrupt politician as president again.
This guy had no position in a federal court. Now he does.
I hope the New York Times is focused on the critical, essential issue here - and sticks to it like glue:
Does he have his own email server?
Is this going to turn out to be not what laws has Trump and Co. broken but what laws didn’t they break?
And the “legal” crimes keep happening - this is the only business that McConnell is advancing, and he is doing it as fast as he can. He is undermining the federal judiciary of the entire country for the next 30-40 years. Criminal but legal.
We are just barely starting to see some of the tangible results of this, and it is soul-crushing.
…and somehow those cowardly fks, the GOP, think this is just A-OK? Really?
OT, now Perry is out (date TBD).
Does anybody even remember what the news climate was yesterday?
Trump’s famous “well-oiled machine”.
And his most famous client, the President, has at times encouraged it.
As many have noted, there are scant grounds taking Rudy to be Trump’s ‘private attorney’. It does not appear that Trump pays him or has any kind of contractual arrangement with him. Or that he has done any legal work for his ‘client’.
It seems unlikely that you can simply name a co-conspirator as your ‘private attorney’ simply because he has a law license, and expect to reap legal benefits from this verbal maneuver.
Trump said he was leaving, Perry said he wasn’t so who is making the announcement today?
Leaving soon, as in end of month? Or parachuting out of AF1 DB Cooper style?
If your objective is tying things up in the courts for years and years you can certainly give it a try.
Rick Perry told Trump he is stepping down soon (via MSNBC)
OT: Reports that Perry will be stepping down sooner than expected…
Hmmmmm.
Abandon ship!
Perry leaving.
When you’ve lost Secretary Good Hair…
ETA: Hat tip to Molly I.
He stayed under the radar far too long.
