In his article for the New York Law Journal, Adjunct Professor Joel Cohen discusses the possibility of a pardon for Rudy Giuliani and when the president might issue it.
A pardon. Rudy Giuliani has called it an “insurance policy.” He could just as easily have called it an “escape hatch.” Maybe, “a magic bullet.” His detractors might call it “extortion.”
After all, Giuliani deliberately and promiscuously uses the phrase to remind the president, who might otherwise be prone to throw him over the cliff as a scapegoat—although, the term “under the bus” is probably more in vogue—of reality. That is, if he faces jail, Giuliani would gladly use the president’s impeachable and possibly criminal instructions to him (as his private lawyer) to leverage an immunity deal for himself. Perhaps the kind of deal that’s never been seen before, given the stakes.
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There’s more though. If prosecutors want to make a deal with Giuliani and can establish, independent of Giuliani’s proffer to them, that, although it is far from clear, Trump’s conversations with Giuliani furthered criminal activity (“crime-fraud”), Giuliani can be directed by a federal court to testify, even over the president’s objection. Trump should think about that!
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So, yes, Giuliani does have an insurance policy in his hip pocket. The lingering question is just how far down the road it must be before Trump, the “world’s greatest negotiator,” would be willing to “throw in the policy” to end the potential problem that Giuliani alone can cause him.