THE SLATEST

Trump’s Former Lawyer Blasts Giuliani for “Damaging Trump’s Case Immeasurably”

By 
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and his wife Judith Giuliani arrive in the East Room before U.S. President Donald Trump introduces Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court at the White House July 9, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and his wife Judith Giuliani arrive in the East Room before U.S. President Donald Trump introduces Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee to the United States Supreme Court at the White House July 9, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Jay Goldberg, harshly criticized Rudy Giuliani for hurting his case against longtime fixer Michael Cohen. All the back-and-forth about whether Cohen could be trusted ultimately essentially cancels out the evident effort to discredit the man who was Trump’s trusted adviser for years. “I knew as soon as Giuliani spoke that he was damaging Trump’s case immeasurably,” Goldberg, who was Trump’s divorce lawyer, told CNN.
“It ranks near 100 in terms of damage.”
The switch from trustworthy individual to liar seems to have happened rather quickly. On July 8, Giuliani told ABC News that he had “no concerns that Michael Cohen is going to do anything but tell the truth.” Now the tune is markedly different with Giuliani saying on Thursday that Cohen “is a proven liar.” That transition seems to suggest that Trump’s legal team believes at least part of the case on Russian meddling could come down to Cohen’s credibility, notes the Washington Post.
The early statements of confidence on Cohen’s credibility and trustworthiness will end up canceling the later doubts and illustrate why Giuliani isn’t right for the job of defending the president, Goldberg said. The early defense of Trump’s fixer “strips the defense of its main weapon of claiming that he is coloring his testimony to favor the government, so he can get a letter of cooperation,” Goldberg said. The president’s divorce lawyer added that “no defense lawyer would say that.”
Goldberg said he had long been skeptical of whether Giuliani was appropriate for the job, saying that he told the president not to hire him. “I didn’t think Giuliani knew how to handle a case from the defense perspective. He was a long-time prosecutor and he didn’t know how to set a case up for the possible impeachment of a witness such as Cohen,” Goldberg said.

One more thing

If you think Slate’s work matters, become a Slate Plus member. You’ll get exclusive members-only content and a suite of great benefits—and you’ll help secure Slate’s future.
Join 
end quote from: