Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s most vociferous supporters, seems unable to stick to his own words.
The former mayor of New York, tasked with defending the president as the Mueller investigation ramps up into its last stages, appeared Friday morning on CNN, per an Esquire report, to discuss whether or not Trump can be subpoenaed to force an interview with Robert Mueller. There has been no clear-cut evidence so far of Trump personally colluding with the Russians to influence the elections, but Trump has made decisions as sitting president which could be construed as attempting to thwart Mueller’s investigation. Last May’s firing of then-FBI Director James Comey, if done with a corrupt intent, could lead to an obstruction of justice charge against Trump. It is this angle that Mueller appears intent on exploring during his interview with the president.
However, his defenders have argued that there is no way that Robert Mueller can force Donald Trump to sit through an interview. While former lawyer John Dowd had argued last year that Trump could not obstruct justice because of him being the chief law enforcement officer — and thus possessing a right to fire someone — now the Trump camp believes that a president can obstruct justice, as Giuliani admitted to Chris Cuomo of CNN, but argue that Mueller cannot make the president sit for an interview. When Cuomo asked Giuliani if a subpoena can be served to the president thus forcing him to attend the interview, the former New York mayor said that it is simply impossible to compel a sitting president to testify.
Then, Chris Cuomo presented something that made Giuliani very uncomfortable. He played a small segment from an interview Rudy Giuliani did with Charlie Rose back in 1998, in which he said that Bill Clinton, despite being the president, can and must be subpoenaed.
“You gotta do it,” he had said.
Giuliani attempted to talk over the segment, evidently embarrassed that he had been caught saying exactly opposite things about how a law should apply to a sitting president on national television, and raged at Cuomo after the segment was played.
“That’s really unfair! That’s extremely unfair what you’re doing right now! This is the reason people don’t come on this show!”
If a lawyer who is defending the president is left to defend himself with such words, everything might not right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=100&v=jU4aCA6oVhs
