May 21, 2022

Disgraced Trump Ally Rudy Giuliani Testified Before 1/6 Committee

Is this making PA State Senator (and now GOP candidate for governor) nervous? Nervous-er?

This was reported by the NYTimes recently:

Rudolph W. Giuliani, who helped lead President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election as his personal lawyer, sat on Friday for a lengthy interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to people familiar with the closed-door interview.

Mr. Giuliani’s interview, which was virtual, lasted for more than seven hours, the people said. The interview was transcribed, and he was under oath. He took a break in the middle of it to host his hourlong afternoon radio show.

It was unclear what Mr. Giuliani told the committee, but his centrality to Mr. Trump’s various attempts to subvert the election made him a potentially pivotal witness for the panel, with knowledge of details about interactions with members of Congress and others involved in the plans.

And it was also reported by CNN:

Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump's onetime personal attorney and a lead architect of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, on Friday met with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, two sources told CNN.  

As is to be expected, there's very little about the substance of this interview being reported. We;ll probably learn much much more when the Committee starts it's public hearings in June.

That being said, we can probably gather something about the testimony based on the subpoena the committee sent to Rudy Giuliani in January.

In it, after a few paragraphs of bureaucratic throat clearing, we get this:

The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations. Between mid-November 2020 and January 6, 2021 (and thereafter) you actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former president Trump and sought to convince state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results.

And then later: 

Accordingly, the Select Committee seeks documents and a deposition regarding these and other matters that are within the scope of the Select Committee’s inquiry.

Why would I be bringing this up?

This: 

At the request of Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Cumberland/Franklin/York), the Senate Majority Policy Committee is holding a public hearing Wednesday [November 24, 2020] to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities. The hearing will feature former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

And where could we go to see some of Giuliani's claims he made at that hearing?

Mike Wereschagin over at Lancaster online had a good fact-check take down. A few examples:

Claim: Pennsylvania approved 1.8 million mail ballots and received 1.4 million back, but 2.5 million mail votes were recorded in the presidential election.

Our finding: False. Public records show more than 3 million people requested a mail-in ballot and more than 2.6 million returned them.

Wereschagin even points out that Giuliani himself tried to say that this was false - but in the disciplinary hearing regarding his law license (which he eventually lost).

Claim: About 682,770 mail-in ballots were entered into voting systems in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties without any Republican witnesses.

Our finding: False. Several of the witnesses Giuliani called at this same hearing testified that they witnessed canvassing in those counties, putting the lie to Giuliani’s claim. Trump’s legal team had tried to make a similar claim in federal court, but dropped that portion of its lawsuit 10 days before this hearing — a fact which Giuliani almost certainly knew before repeating the falsehood at this hearing, the New York Supreme Court noted.

Then there's this:

Claim: The U.S. Constitution allows the Pennsylvania General Assembly to throw out election results and select their own electors after an election is over.

Our finding: False. The Constitution says state legislatures “shall appoint in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct a number of electors.” The General Assembly did set the manner in which electors would be selected when it passed Act 77 and, before that, other components of the state Election Code. Legal experts say this theory, advanced by both Giuliani’s and co-counsel Jenna Ellis, does not stand up to scrutiny.

And so on.

It's a good guess that the committee wanted to talk to Rudy about things like that.

Curiously, did you know that two days after Rudy spread the lie about 1.8 million ballots, PA State Senator (and GOP candidate for governor) Doug Mastriano tweeted it?

It was Doug's hearing, doncha know. He kinda hadta spread the bullshit.

Another curious thing is when we turn to Doug's own subpoena we find this:

We understand you participated in these activities based on assertions of voter fraud and other asserted irregularities and based on a stated belief that under the U.S. Constitution the “state legislature has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College.”

Doug even tweeted that a few days after Rudy asserted it at Doug's hearing in Gettysburg:

Which was also of the untrue things Rudy said at Doug's hearing.

If the January 6 Committee subpoenaed Rudy to talk to him about what he said publicly in the months between Trump's loss to Biden in November 2020 and Trump's mob storming The Capitol in January 6, what's the chance they'll be talking about PA State Senator (and GOP candidate for governor) Doug Mastriano's misinformation hearing in Gettysburg in late November 2020?

Doug, do you have any thoughts on this?  Were your ears burning at any point during the hours that Rudy Giuliani was testifying (under oath - something he wasn't under at your little hearing) to the January 6 Committee?

Does this concern you at all?

Maybe it should.


at