Trump Lawyer Defends ‘Colorful Distraction’ Giuliani at Trial: He’s a ‘Minor Player’ Being Used as ‘Shiny Object’
Rudy Giuliani has been a central figure in the Ukraine saga and, per reports over the last few months, even some Republicans aren’t happy with what he’s been up to. Last May, Giuliani spoke to the New York Times about his interest in Ukraine:
“We’re not meddling in an election, we’re meddling in an investigation, which we have a right to do,” Mr. Giuliani said in an interview on Thursday when asked about the parallel to the special counsel’s inquiry.
“There’s nothing illegal about it,” he said. “Somebody could say it’s improper. And this isn’t foreign policy — I’m asking them to do an investigation that they’re doing already and that other people are telling them to stop. And I’m going to give them reasons why they shouldn’t stop it because that information will be very, very helpful to my client, and may turn out to be helpful to my government.”
Today Jane Raskin, one of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial lawyers, spoke for roughly 15 minutes defending Giuliani’s role and calling him a “shiny object” being thrown out by Democrats.
Raskin said that the law and the facts are not on the Democrats’ side, so they’re trying the strategy of “emphasiz[ing] a sensational fact or perhaps a colorful and controversial public figure who appears on the scene.”
“Rudy Giuliani is the House managers’ colorful distraction,” she argued. “He’s a household name, legendary federal prosecutor who took down the mafia, corrupt public officials, Wall Street racketeers, crime-busting mayor who cleaned up New York and turned it around. A national hero, America’s mayor after 9/11. And after that, an internationally recognized expert on fighting corruption. To be sure, Mr. Giuliani has always been somewhat of a controversial figure for his hard-hitting take-no-prisoner approach, but it’s no stretch to say that he was respected by friend and foe alike for his intellect, his tenacity, his accomplishments, and his fierce loyalty to his causes and his country. And then, the unthinkable. He publicly supported the candidacy of President Trump, the one who was not supposed to win.”
Raskin asked why Democrats didn’t subpoena Giuliani to testify, arguing that his role is “not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“They ask you to rely on hearsay, speculation and assumption. Evidence that would be inadmissible in any court,” she said.
Raskin also argued Democrats have engaged in a “failure to place in any fair context Mr. Giuliani’s actual role in exploring Ukrainian corruption.” She said Giuliani’s intent “had nothing to do with the 2020 election” and was looking into this before Joe Biden announced his candidacy.
“The House managers may not like his style, you may not like his style,” Raskin said, “but one might argue that he is everything Clarence Darrow said a defense lawyer must be: outrageous, irreverent, blasphemous, a rogue, a renegade.”
She ended by saying, “In this trial, in this moment, Mr. Giuliani is just a minor player. That shiny object designed to distract you.”
The former New York mayor, it turned out, was watching. He shouted out Raskin via Twitter:
Jane Raskin is doing a masterful job defending me in my role as defense counsel. As she pointed out, I did not dig up dirt on Joe Biden. The information RE his outrageous criminal conduct was handed to me, along with a video tape, 4 witnesses &…
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) January 27, 2020
You can watch above, via MSNBC.
