NEW BOOK: Giuliani sought pardon and Presidential Medal before Trump left office
A letter sent on behalf of Rudy Giuliani asked former President Donald Trump for not only a pardon but the Presidential Medal of Freedom and payment for the disgraced lawyer’s service as Trump’s personal attorney.
The New York Times reported that Giuliani’s associate, Maria Ryan, wrote the letter which was reportedly intercepted by his adviser Bernard B. Kerik before it reached the then-President.
Seeking $2.5 million in legal fees for Giuliani, and nearly $50, 000 for herself, Ryan wrote:
“As you know, he lost his job and income and more defending you during the Russia hoax investigation and then the impeachment pro bono.”
A new book by journalist Andrew Kirtzman — Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayor — scheduled for a September release, gives the details of how Ryan pled the former President’s attorney’s case:
“Dear Mr. President,” Ms. Ryan wrote in the letter, dated Jan. 10, 2021, according to the book, “I tried to call you yesterday to talk about business. The honorable Rudy Giuliani has worked 24/7 on the voter fraud issues. He has led a team of lawyers, data analysts, and investigators.”
Then she added the kicker:
“He needs to be paid for his services.”
Ryan reportedly also asked for a “general pardon” for Giuliani in the letter – just four days after the Capitol attack.
Attorneys for Giuliani deny their client ever asked for a Presidential pardon, despite bombshell public testimony from former senior White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson before Congress that Giuliani and her former boss Mark Meadows had both requested one.
Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello released a statement from the former New York City mayor saying:
“Not only didn’t I ever request a pardon. I told my client, President Trump, that if I was offered a pardon, I would turn it down. Since I had done nothing wrong, there was no need for a pardon.”
In a now-deleted tweet, Rudy Guiliani repeated that statement, “Actually, I told the President I did not want or need one.”
Named as a “target” in Fulton County Georgia DA Fani Willis’ investigation into Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election results, Giuliani testified before a grand jury on Wednesday after a judge ordered his appearance.
A Justice Department investigation is also pending against the unapologetic Trump ally, as well as a civil suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for baseless claims Giuliani made that the election software company conspired with Democrats to steal the presidency from Trump for Biden.
With Giuliani’s law license suspended in both New York and Washington D.C. and his legal jeopardy growing, the Trump ally could have certainly used both some compensation for his services to the disgraced former president and that broad general pardon.
The fact that Trump apparently decided to neither pay Giuliani nor grant him clemency may have more to do with Trump’s frustration over his representative’s lack of success in keeping him in the White House than anything else.
Neither request reflects well on Giuliani’s innocence of the accusations against him in the coup attempt, however.
Original reporting by Kelly Risman at Vanity Fair.
Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick
