It Seems Like Bad News for Rudy Giuliani and His Henchmen That the Feds Blew the Door Off a Safe

By Charles Pierce, Esquire

29 October 19

The presidential* lawyer may well be thrown overboard.

n the end of things, when there are no more distractions and nothing more to throw overboard, and thirst and hunger begin to overcome the last occupants of the lifeboat at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, they're all going to cast starving eyes at Rudy Giuliani and think thoughts of grim cannibalism. From CNN:

The subpoena to Steven Fruman is the latest indication of prosecutors' actions since the rushed arrest two weeks ago of his brother, Igor Fruman, and another defendant, Lev Parnas, at a Washington-area airport. Since then, investigators have doled out multiple subpoenas and conducted several property searches, in one case blowing the door off a safe to access the contents, sources tell CNN.

Federal prosecutors told a judge this week that they are sifting through data from more than 50 bank accounts. In addition, they've put a filter team in place as they examine communications obtained via search warrant and subpoena, sensitive to material that could be subject to attorney-client privilege because Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, counted Parnas as a client. A filter team is a separate set of prosecutors who are assigned to examine evidence and set aside material that is privileged.

I am not an international bagman, but I've got to be thinking that having the Feds blow your safe is a pretty damn bad sign for your personal future.

As they pursue an ongoing investigation into Igor Fruman, Parnas and their co-defendants, prosecutors are also investigating Giuliani's Ukranian business dealings, CNN has reported. Parnas and Igor Fruman for months have aided Giuliani in what he has described as his effort to unearth damaging information about his client Trump's political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, whose son was on the board of a Ukranian energy company. In recent days, Giuliani has been seeking a criminal-defense attorney, CNN has reported. He says he has not been contacted by the FBI or by New York federal prosecutors.

Six, two and even, they're selling you out, Rudy. They're going to cut you loose. You're the scapegoat of last resort.

Update (3:18 p.m.): Of course, Rudy isn't helping his own case very much. Unbelievably, from NBC News:

The fact that Giuliani was reaching out wasn’t remarkable. He and the reporter had spoken earlier that night for a story about his ties to a fringe Iranian opposition group. But this call, it would soon become clear, wasn’t a typical case of a source following up with a reporter. The call came in at 11:07 p.m. and went to voicemail; the reporter was asleep. The next morning, a message exactly three minutes long was sitting in his voicemail. In the recording, the words tumbling out of Giuliani’s mouth were not directed at the reporter. He was speaking to someone else, someone in the same room.

Giuliani can be heard discussing overseas dealings and lamenting the need for cash, though it's difficult to discern the full context of the conversation.“You know,” Giuliani says at the start of the recording. “Charles would have a hard time with a fraud case ‘cause he didn’t do any due diligence.” It wasn’t clear who Charles is, or who may have been implicated in a fraud. In fact, much of the message’s first minute is difficult to comprehend, in part because the voice of the other man in the conversation is muffled and barely intelligible. But then Giuliani says something that’s crystal clear. "Let's get back to business." He goes on. "I gotta get you to get on Bahrain."

Well, you know what they say: a lawyer who butt-dials a reporter has a fool for a client.