Rudy unleashed: Trump interview with Mueller off the table, and maybe we’ll pardon

Rudy unleashed: Trump interview with Mueller off the table, and maybe we’ll pardon everyone
Posted by William A. Jacobson Friday, June 15, 2018 at 9:00pm

https://legalinsurrection.com/2018/...e-and-maybe-well-pardon-everyone/#more-252402

Preparing the battlespace of public opinion

Rudy Giuliani’s role in the Trump defense against the Mueller onslaught is part lawyer, and a bigger part public perception shaping.

About a month ago I wondered what Rudy was thinking when he suggested Trump should have a sit-down interview with Mueller, Rudy’s terrible, horrible, no good idea about Trump sitting for a Mueller interview to speed things up:

In my January 24, 2018 post I explained why, Trump should not voluntarily submit to an interview with Mueller ….

This is such a no-brainer, I’m really worried Rudy Giuliani, who is Trump’s new key legal advisor, will screw it up. At least as reported, it appears that Rudy is doing just that, and has suggested to Mueller that any interview would be contingent on an end date to the investigation.

This is a horrible idea on so many levels. It will not even wrap up the Russia investigation. It will end nothing.

If Mueller wants Trump to sit across the table from him and answer questions, he should have to fight for it, and Trump should fight back. To the Supremes if need be. This is about the survival of Trump’s presidency which is being pursued by Mueller’s posse of hired guns.

This also will not help Republicans in the midterms. You want to get Trump voters to the voting booth? Appeasing Mueller so he can drop his bombs by September 1 is not the way. If Mueller will not back off the interview setup, then precipitate a court battle over whether the presidency can be stolen. If you want voters to fight for you, then fight for yourself as an example.

In news of other horrible ideas, I plan on a Legal Insurrection “Swimming with the Sharks” trip just before which I will throw some blood in the water to see which way the current is moving.

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Since then, Rudy has been more and more on the attack against Mueller and the origins and focus of the investigation.

This undoubtedly is preparing the battlespace for the coming fight, which likely will be a Mueller report that provides the purported grounds for impeachment. Since impeachment is a political not a judicial remedy, public opinion will matter and the attacks on Mueller appear to be working. An increasing percentage of people view the investigation as politically motivated.

Rudy also has hardened his position on an interview:

President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Friday that a special counsel interview of the president is “off the table” — at least for himself.

Giuliani said during an interview on The Hill’s show “Rising” that Trump himself has not ruled out an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, because “he wants to explain himself.”

But Giuliani also said that “as his lawyer” he does not believe Trump should sit down with investigators.

“It’s never off the table for the president, because he feels he’s done nothing wrong, which he hasn’t, and he wants to explain himself,” Giuliani said on “Rising.” “For me as his lawyer it’s off the table until they can show me what happened.”

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The DOJ Inspector General’s report supports the view that the origins of the alleged Russia collusion investigation were political. Rudy is making that point big league:

Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, said Friday that Donald Trump should not be subjected to an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller because a watchdog review of the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation exposed the special counsel’s separate probe as a “corrupt investigation.”

“There should not be an investigation,” the former New York mayor, in an interview with the hosts of “Fox and Friends,” said of Mueller’s probe into coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election. “Mueller should now make a report, everything he has got. No interview of the president. He shouldn’t be bothered with it. Why would he get interviewed in a corrupt investigation?” …

Giuliani previously called on Mueller to put his investigation on hold on Thursday, hours after the IG report’s release.

“Tomorrow, Mueller should be suspended and honest people should be brought in, impartial people to investigate these people like Strzok,” he told Fox New host Sean Hannity. “Strzok should be in jail by the end of next week.”

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Rudy also threw a hand grenade, suggesting that in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail, Trump might use his pardon power to undermine Mueller:

In one of his most forceful attacks on the special counsel yet, Giuliani on Friday said the Russia investigation could get “cleaned up” with pardons from President Trump in light of Paul Manafort being sent to jail.

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“When the whole thing is over, things might get cleaned up with some presidential pardons,” the former New York mayor told the Daily News.

In light of all the recently released information that is the position I would take.