Rudy Giuliani blasts Judge Napolitano for turning on Trump
May 31, 2019
Image Source: YouTube Screenshot
Rudy Giuliani called out “bitter” Fox contributor Andrew Napolitano on Thursday over his support of the Democrats’ impeachment fervor.
“There’s something wrong with [Judge] Napolitano and his now bitter attitude” toward President Donald Trump, Giuliani tweeted. “Maybe he never understood why POTUS didn’t appoint him to [the] Supreme Court. He’s too smart to confuse communications with conspiracy.”
Good pal turns hostile
Giuliani was responding to a video of Judge Nap laying out alleged evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. The clip of Napolitano, in which he reported that Trump had 127 communications with Russians, was posted by an anonymous anti-Trump Twitter account that was responding to a tweet by Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade.
Giuliani’s subsequent jab recalled a war of words between Trump and Napolitano that blew up in April after Trump accused the judge of turning against him after he chose someone else — namely, Neil Gorsuch — to nominate to the Supreme Court. That accusation came in responseto allegations from Napolitano that the president committed “criminal” and “immoral” acts, including obstruction of justice.
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....Ever since Andrew came to my office to ask that I appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court, and I said NO, he has been very hostile! Also asked for pardon for his friend. A good “pal” of low ratings Shepard Smith.
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Napolitano fired back that Trump was attempting to distract from the Mueller investigation. The former New Jersey Superior Court judge denied ever seeking the job, but acknowledged to Fox’s Maria Baritoromo that Trump asked him to give a pitch for the position.
“Who would turn that down? I gave him the spiel, so-to-speak, and somebody else in the room said, ‘That’s pretty interesting, but the judge is a little long in the tooth,'” Napolitano said. “To which the president said, ‘Blank you,’ to the person and said, ‘I’m four years older than the judge, and I’m about to become president.'”
Sour grapes
Napolitano was excited to be on the short-list for the offer that never came, according to Politico, which may help explain the former Trump ally’s stark turn. Napolitano recently accused Trump of violating the separation of powers, echoing the Democrat talking point that the president has ushered in a “constitutional crisis” by refusing to obey congressional subpoenas.
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Lindsey Graham’s suggestion that Donald Trump, Jr. ignore a subpoena, saying that you can’t ignore a subpoena “no matter who your father is.”
But Napolitano’s gradual drift from a Trump ally to Trump foe reached a new point this week when the former judge claimed that Mueller would have indicted Trump for a crime if he could. The Fox analyst said that Mueller’s report shows that Trump committed criminal obstruction, but Mueller was blocked by Attorney General William Barr from bringing an indictment.
“I think the reason Mueller did not come to a conclusion on obstruction of justice is not because the evidence wasn’t there — it’s there, there are ten crimes outlined,” the judge said. “The reason is because he knew that the attorney general would never give him permission to [indict].”
Fanning the flames
At a surprise press conference Wednesday, Mueller announced that he was closing his office and summarized his findings, reiterating that he did not uncover enough evidence to make a charge of conspiracy. But he also said that charging Trump with obstruction of justice was “not an option” under DOJ policy.
Mueller’s comments fanned the impeachment fire among Democrats who have spent weeks claiming that Mueller would have indicted Trump if not for the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion advising against charging presidents.
Napolitano argued that Mueller was not blocked from charging Trump by the OLC opinion, but speculated that he did not want to disobey Barr because Mueller is an old-fashioned “Marine” and “didn’t want to challenge his boss, Bill Barr, in public.”
Whatever the reason for his change of heart, Judge Nap has certainly succeeded in disappointing his Trump-supporting fans. Napolitano may have missed out on the SCOTUS, but he’ll have a comfortable future as a Never-Trump bobblehead.
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