Rudy Giuliani (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Why on earth would any lawyer without a Fox News contract agree to represent Rudy Giuliani? The man cheerfully trots out on television every night to screech out conspiracy theories and slander a major presidential candidate. He texts dozens of reporters in D.C. and New York every single day. And he appears to be practicing law in a jurisdiction where he holds himself out as being on inactive status, as George Washington University Fellow JJ MacNab pointed out on Twitter 18 months ago.
Not to quibble, but Greenberg Traurig gave him the boot in May of 2018 after he went on Sean Hannity’s show and claimed it was his standard practice to launder payments to his clients’ paramours through the firm’s escrow account. Very cool, and very legal!
And yet, Giuliani does appear to have found himself competent representation in his fellow NYU Law Class of ’68 alum Jon A. Sale, currently of counsel in the Miami office of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough and co-chair of the firm’s White Collar and Government Investigations Practice Group.
The former Watergate prosecutor is a veteran Assistant U.S. Attorney, having represented the government in New York, Connecticut, and Florida. He’s currently admitted to the bar in several federal circuits, multiple states, and — we checked! — has maintained active status with the D.C. Bar since 1974.
So why on earth would this guy agree to represent Rudy?
“Every time I turn around, Rudy’s on another TV show,” Sale told CNN. “He and I could have a conversation, and then I turn on the television and he could be doing something else.”
Indeed he is. Like potentially waiving privilege by telling The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott, “I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government.” Or partnering with the State Department in his Ukrainian misadventures in ways that make it unclear who his actual client is. Or perhaps failing to execute a written retainer agreement with Donald Trump, which is required in both New York, where he maintains active status, and D.C., where he doesn’t. Or plastering the White House and State Department with so much anti-Biden propaganda on stationary from the Trump Hotel that the horrified State Department Inspector General hotfoots it to Congress to dump it on them. Or, according to the Washington Post’s Josh Rogin, “manufacturing White House logos and sticking them on non-White House documents and pushing the real government to act on them.”
Or … whatever this is.
Will Mr. Sale be representing his client in the matter of Rudolph Giuliani v. The Swamp? Good thing he’s barred in so many jurisdictions!
Oh, wait, Rudy’s narrowed the scope of his prospective litigation. Now he’s threatening to sue the United State Congress for … SOMETHING.
So it’s Giuliani v. The U.S. House of Representatives, then. Or will Mr. Sale sit Rudy down for a scotch and cigar to reminisce about that day in the fall of 1965 when their beloved Con Law professor explained the Speech or Debate Clause?
Giuliani has been subpoenaed by three House Committees in conjunction with the impeachment inquiry, and says he intends to consult counsel and his client Donald Trump before deciding how to respond. For his part, Mr. Sale is unconcerned, telling Law.com, ““He 100 percent did not do anything illegal,” before adding, “I think the congressional forum is very partisan.”
Well, best of luck on landing such a high-profile client. We’re sure it will all work out for the best.
Rudy Giuliani hires Watergate prosecutor as attorney in impeachment inquiry [CNN]
Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.