Putting the Rude in Rudy

The other day, a former employee of Rudy Giuliani filed a $10 million lawsuit against him for unpaid wages and sexual assault.  Noelle Dunphy’s court filing was long, detailed and so cringingly graphic that TV reporters couldn't quote much of it.

Of course it’s just an accusation and might not be true.  But from what we know of Giuliani and from how specific some of the charges are and with there being recordings and emails for some of it and with there being filmed documentary evidence of a sort of Giuliani in the movie Boroat: Subsequent Moviefilm (and no, that’s not me being snarky, the 70-page lawsuit included reference and a photo to it)…man, it’s hard not to think most of it is true.  And that they can prove it.

Now, of course, it’s possible some of it isn’t true – not that the charges are wrong, but that Giuliani could have been exaggerating to impress a woman he wanted to get into bed.  Like the part of “Do you know anyone who wants to buy a pardon for $2 million.”  To be clear, I think that could be true, but I’m just saying it also could just be something to impress her. 

Mind you, the problem with that is, as Adam Belanoff reminded me, there was a story from two years ago when former C.I.A. officer John Kirikou – who had been convicted of illegally disclosing classified information -- reported to the FBI that, afterwards, Giuliani told him he could hep get a pardon for $2 million.  Giuliani disputed the claim.

The trouble now is that it’s the exact same claim Noelle Dunphy is making.  And there was apparently a witness present.

That may not be the most damning part of the story.

That would be when former Attorney General William Barr was on Fox “News” the other day and questioned about the “pay-for-pardon” charge in the lawsuit and asked if he thought it could be true.  Now, there are several ways that Barr could have answered.  The most basic and easiest would be, “No, of course not.”  The next easiest would have been, “Not to my knowledge, no.”  What Barr answered, though, was hesitate, think a few moments, mumble some equivocations and then say, “I would hope not…I don’t know.”

That’s not even “Damning with faint praise.”  Because it was hard to find the praise in his response.

Needless-to-say, Giuliani is in trouble.

But the person who perhaps should be most scared is Trump.  Because if Giuliani is found guilty, which means a jury's belief in the charge of pardon peddling, which means Jack Smith is at the ready – and there’s still the Georgia investigation looming on top of this – I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts to sing like the entire Metropolitan Opera chorus.