RUDY, A MESSAGE TO YOU

Rudy Giuliani (the blonde on the left in the photo that accompanies this post) simply isn’t Donald Trump’s type.  Try as he might, he doesn’t look much like Ivanka.  But 18 years after the photo was taken, Giuliani and Trump are hooking up for one last fling.   

Back in the 80s, Giuliani was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York – the same SDNY that is currently putting the squeeze on Trump’s personal fixer, Michael Cohen.  Now comes news that Trump has added Giuliani to his legal team. 

It’s an interesting move for both men.  Giuliani is an attorney, but he currently works for a high-powered firm that “advises” large energy corporations on government relations.  Thirty years ago, back in SDNY, he was a prosecutor.  Trump needs a defense lawyer.  Since he has tried and failed to hire one of those, he’s settled for Rudy, a long-time friend.

Not coincidentally, the White House leaked a story that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has assured Trump that he’s not a target of Mueller’s investigation.  Trump is said to have found this comforting, but it doesn’t mean that Mueller intends to exonerate Trump. 

Whether Trump knows it or not, “target” is a very specific legal term.  A target of an investigation is someone who has been, or will soon be, indicted.  Since Mueller works for the Department of Justice, and since the DoJ is on record as believing that a sitting president can’t be indicted, Rosenstein’s alleged assurance doesn’t mean much.  Trump may not be one of Mueller’s targets, but I’ll bet he’s one of Mueller’s subjects. 

At the moment, Rudy Giuliani is portraying himself as a peacemaker.  You can be sure that Giuliani knows the difference between a target and a subject, but he may have concluded that things will be more peaceful if he doesn’t burden his new client with too much information.  For public consumption, at least, Giuliani says he respects Robert Mueller and wants him to finish his work.  I’m no Giuliani fan, but I regard that as a hopeful sign.

Speaking of targets and subjects, the White House seems to be pretty nervous about Michael Cohen, who is definitely a target in SDNY.  Trump’s cronies are engaging in remarkably public speculation about whether or not Cohen is a stand-up guy.  The consensus seems to be that Cohen will fold under pressure.  He’ll give up Donald Trump if that’s what it takes to get a lighter sentence.

On the matter of collusion with Russia, Trump continues to have defenders, both in Congress and in the media, despite the fact that the more we learn about the Mueller investigation, the more foolish those defenders look.   No smoking gun, they say.  Move along, nothing to see here.  Meanwhile, the noose tightens.

But it's instructive that none of Trump's usual defenders are being Cheerful Charlies about the Cohen investigation.  Even people close to Trump believe that whatever the FBI seized in the Cohen raid spells trouble for El Presidente.