For congressional investigators examining the Jan. 6 attack, there are few figures more important than Rudy Giuliani. He was not only a central figure in Donald Trump’s inner circle as the then-president tried to overturn his election defeat, and he not only spoke at the rally that preceded the riot, but the former New York City mayor stands accused of helping coordinate the fake-electors scheme that’s the subject of multiple ongoing investigations.
It was against this backdrop that the bipartisan House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol subpoenaed Giuliani a month ago. As recently as a few days ago, he was reportedly in discussions with congressional investigators about offering at least some cooperation.
The New York Times reported that Giuliani, “through his lawyer, has signaled to the committee that he plans to take a less confrontational stance toward its requests than some other members of Mr. Trump’s inner circle who are fighting the committee’s subpoenas or have otherwise refused to cooperate.” Soon after, multiple reports suggested that the committee’s members expected the former mayor to testify.
It now appears we’ll have to start adjusting expectations.
Giuliani appeared on conservative media outlet called Newsmax last night, and shared an unhelpful perspective on the bipartisan panel:
“How can you have any confidence in this committee, which, by the way, is illegal, and doesn’t have a minority membership, and really can’t subpoena anybody?”
First, the committee is perfectly legal, and its legitimacy has been endorsed by federal courts.
Second, it does have minority membership. It doesn’t need Republican members to exist and function, but it has Republican members anyway.
Third, the House committee obviously has the authority to issue subpoenas, and as a rule, persons of interest don’t have the luxury of deciding whether to comply with subpoenas based on whether or not they approve of those who’ve issued the legal directives.
But even if we put aside the fact that Giuliani went 0-for-3 in his claims about the bipartisan panel, it’s the larger point that stands out: He did not sound like someone who’s prepared to cooperate with the investigation. His lawyer may have signaled over the weekend that the former mayor intends to take “a less confrontational stance,” but Giuliani himself took the opposite message to a national television audience last night. And why is that? Let’s not lose sight of the timing of Giuliani’s on-air tirade. As Greg Sargent explained: Giuliani’s latest unhinged rantings … came after the committee subpoenaed several figures related to Trump’s effort to get GOP legislatures to appoint sham electors to subvert President Biden’s victory. Two of those subpoenaed are Trump campaign officials who engaged in a “coordinated strategy” to pressure legislators to execute that scheme, according to communications that the committee says it has obtained.
Quite right. As we discussed this morning, when the committee issued its latest batch of subpoenas late yesterday, the list included Laura Cox, the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, who reportedly witnessed Giuliani “pressure state lawmakers to disregard election results in Michigan and say that certifying the election results would be a ‘criminal act.’” It was just hours later when Giuliani appeared on Newsmax and started peddling hysterical claims and conspiracy theories. If the Jan. 6 committee’s members were hoping the former mayor would be a cooperative witness, now seems like an excellent time to start exploring Plan B.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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