Rudy Giuliani (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Hosanna! Rudy Giuliani, the world’s worst client, has finally gotten himself competent counsel. Which he celebrated by going online to declare once again that his entire Ukraine project was for the personal benefit of his beloved client, Donald J. Trump, not in service of America’s interest in rooting out corruption in Ukraine. He’s always helping!
What “false charges” against his non-paying, all-powerful client is he talking about? What does smearing Joe Biden have to do with defending Donald Trump? Is he … is he connecting his recent shenanigans in Ukraine to the Mueller investigation?
How very odd that at least four competent attorneys already turned Rudy down, including his former partner Paul L. Shechtman at Bracewell which “rejected the idea, according to two people with knowledge of the matter,” according to the New York Times.
Good thing his new lawyer Robert Costello of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron was right in the middle of the Mueller investigation, so he’ll have no trouble getting up to speed.
There are a whole lot of white-collar attorneys in New York, and yet Rudy picked the guy whom the Mueller Report describes approaching Michael Cohen to be a “back channel” to Donald Trump’s legal team after Cohen had decided to flip? REALLY?
On or about April 17, 2018, Cohen began speaking with an attorney, Robert Costello, who had a close relationship with Rudolph Giuliani, one of the President’s personal lawyers. Costello told Cohen that he had a “back channel of communication” to Giuliani, and that Giuliani had said the “channel” was “crucial” and “must be maintained.”
Here’s Costello appearing to dangle a pardon in an email using a mangled Garth Brooks lyric.
“I have absolutely no concern about any of this because it was simply a reference to the president of the United States being the ‘friend in high places’ — nothing more,” Costello told Courthouse News Service back in April.
On second thought, it makes perfect sense that Costello would be simpatico with his old buddy Rudy. And after Michael Cohen said he’d get his own lawyers thankyouverymuch, he refused to pay Costello the $43,857 he claimed he was owed for all that backchanneling to Rudy Giuliani. So, really, it’s a match made in heaven.
Why Eric M. Creizman and Melissa Madrigal from Pierce Bainbridge would agree to represent a loose cannon who is under investigation by SDNY, tweets all day long, and still picks up the phone for every reporter in the I-95 corridor is a mystery. But a big mazel tov to Jon Sales, the lawyer Rudy just fired. Got out in the nick of time!
Facing Investigation, Giuliani Needed a Lawyer, but Firms Stayed Away [New York Times]
I Meant Trump: Lawyer Who Emailed Cohen Opens Up [Courthouse News]
Giuliani Turns to Pierce Bainbridge and Michael Cohen’s Ex-Lawyer in Ukraine Scandal [Law.com]
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.