Testimony by Giuliani Indicates He Was Briefed on Kerik in ’00 (NY Times Hit)

NYTimes via Drudge Report ^ | March 30, 2007 | William K. Rashbaum

[RDTF]

Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of Bernard B. Kerik’s relationship with a company suspected of ties to organized crime before Mr. Kerik’s appointment as New York City police commissioner, according to court records.

Mr. Giuliani, testifying last year under oath before a Bronx grand jury investigating Mr. Kerik, said he had no memory of the briefing, but he did not dispute that it had taken place, according to a transcript of his testimony.

Mr. Giuliani’s testimony amounts to a significantly new version of what information was probably before him in the summer of 2000 as he was debating Mr. Kerik’s appointment as the city’s top law enforcement officer. Mr. Giuliani had previously said that he had never been told of Mr. Kerik’s entanglement with the company before promoting him to the police job or later supporting his failed bid to be the nation’s homeland security secretary.

In his testimony, given in April 2006, Mr. Giuliani indicated that he must have simply forgotten that he had been briefed on one or more occasions as part of the background investigation of Mr. Kerik before his appointment to the police post.

-snip-

There is no evidence that Mr. Giuliani knew about the apartment renovation before promoting Mr. Kerik to police commissioner. But the top investigator who briefed Mr. Giuliani in 2000, the transcript shows, was aware that Mr. Kerik’s brother and a close friend had been hired by an affiliate of the company, which for years had been struggling to secure a city license.

-snip-

The transcript of Mr. Giuliani’s testimony was not given to The New York Times by any rival campaign.

[mkjessup]

Sure, exact quote from "The Nation", one of the most leftists rags around and they would never lie, would they?!

Nice try but no cigar.

Don't start that spin FO, that quote came from the book 'RUDY!' by Wayne Barrett, it was cited by Jack Newfield in his 2003 article 'The Full Rudy', and 'The Nation' had nothing to do with the writing of the article itself, and the entire article has been deemed acceptable by the mods, which was first posted by Ultrasonic007 last week:

http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1805550/posts

So get over it with the whining. The quote from Rudy's mother is accurate, so deal. You are hypocritical because you didn't give the link, for people to see what is your "reliable source".

Wah, wah, wah. I got your 'hypocritical' right >>>>here<<<<

[trumandogz]

"NYT Hit"

Right on Target!

[trumandogz]

Interesting, Rudy has lost his mom's vote but still has the votes of a large contingent of Freepers.

[mkjessup]

Interesting, Rudy has lost his mom's vote

More than you realize.

but still has the votes of a large contingent of Freepers.

10 percent isn't large. See the latest FR poll. Fred Thompson is out in front, followed by Duncan Hunter.

Guess that's just an 'inconvenient truth', eh?

[trumandogz]

Well that 10% is making lots of noise.

[Lurker]

Do you think they want to have a conservative become president?

What does that have to do with Rudy? He ain't conservative.

L

[FairOpinion]

The point is that the NYT is attacking RG, because he is a threat to Hillary.

[mkjessup]

Well that 10% is making lots of noise.

Truer words never spoken.

Of course 'noise' is pretty much all they've got.

[mkjessup]

The point is that the NYT is attacking RG, because he is a threat to Hillary.

RudyBot Talking Point #12, aka 'Only Rudy Can Save Us From Hillary'.

(yawn)

[FairOpinion]

You can ignore reality and truth all you want to, but it doesn't make it go away.

You can yell the Earth is flat, it doesn't make it so.

[Lurker]

You should be down on your knees praying that Hillary gets the nomination.

She's the most beatable of the bunch.

L

[FairOpinion]

"She (Hillary)'s the most beatable of the bunch."

More evidence that you are detached from reality.

The Clinton machine will steamroll everyone.

Rudy has the best shot of beating it, but there are no guarantees, even with him. But anyone else has zero chance against her.

[mkjessup]

You can ignore reality and truth all you want to, but it doesn't make it go away. You can yell the Earth is flat, it doesn't make it so.

Keep those wise words of yours in mind as your boy Rudy continues to swirl around the political toilet bowl as he heads to his inevitable fate.

Hint: it ain't the White House.

[Pub Linkser--80]

"The Clinton machine will steamroll everyone."

Limbaugh read some poll results (iirc, Harris ) about Hillary the other day, and those polls were quite negative about her. What makes you think she's that tough to beat?

[mkjessup]

Rudy has the best shot of beating it, but there are no guarantees, even with him. But anyone else has zero chance against her.

You woefully overestimate the chances of the junior Senator from New York. She has to make it all the way through the 'Rat primary process unscathed, and she does NOT have the political skills to do that. She's got a tin ear, no common sense, she is belligerant as Hell, obnoxious, arrogant, pompous, and since you RudyBots LOVE polls, check out the recent Harris survey which determined that FIFTY percent of adults do not LIKE Hillary, would not VOTE for Hillary, and that is just one more nail in her political coffin.

But by all means, accuse everyone ELSE of being "detached from reality", in psychiatric circles that is commonly referred to as projection, i.e. you are projecting your own flaws and phobias on to others who are perfectly normal.

Contrasted with your own delusions about 'Sir Rudy the Lion Hearted'.

[Lurker]

Hillary is not only the most beatable, she'd lose in at least 38 States.

I'm begging for her to be the nominee.

That womans negatives have never, ever dipped below 40% and in some polls like the one you cited they're over 50%.

That's unelectable. Period.

Rudys liberal backers use Hillary the way parents use the Boogeyman against wayward children.

Watch for the Dem party itself to sink her. They know all this and won't in a million years let her win the primary.

Almost 50% of the electorate would crawl over their wounded kids to vote against Hillary.

She's done. So is Rudy for that matter.

Good riddance to both of them.

L

[narses]

I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-gay rights, Giuliani said. He was then asked whether he supports a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions. “No, I have not supported that, and I don’t see my position on that changing,” he responded. Source: CNN.com, “Inside Politics” Dec 2, 1999 http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Rudy_Giuliani_Abortion.htm

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES (November 14, 2006)

RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: I'm pro- choice. I'm pro-gay rights.

KING: Giuliani supports a woman's right to an abortion, and back in 1999, he opposed a federal ban on late-term abortions.

GIULIANI: No, I have not supported that, and I don't see my position on that changing.

KING: Immigration could be another presidential landmine. Back in 1996, Mayor Giuliani went to federal court to challenge new federal laws requiring the city to inform the federal government about illegal immigrants.

JEFFREY: He took the side of illegal immigrants in New York City against the Republican Congress.

KING: Giuliani opposes same-sex marriage but as mayor, he supported civil unions and extending health and other benefits to gay couples. He also supported the assault weapons ban and other gun control measures opposed by the National Rifle Association.

GIULIANI: I'm in favor of gun control. I'm pro-choice.

Republican Big-Wigs Support Pro-Abortion Event in NY

Pro-abortion Governor George Pataki and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who also supports unrestricted abortion, are co-chairs of the 2000 Choice Award Presentation to be held on May 30 at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. The event is sponsored by the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition, a group that is campaigning for the removal of the pro-life plank from the Republican National Platform.


http://www.nationalreview.com/murdock/murdock200503010743.asp

[narses]

• Disdain for the Constitution
  Mayor Giuliani routinely disregarded the First Amendment as he rejected requests for information from news organizations and civic groups and opposed public access to city hall steps and parks for demonstrations. "Freedom is about authority," Giuliani said, responding to critics in 1998. "Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it."

• Withholding Public Information
  In a legally questionable transaction on December 24, 2001, just days before the end of the mayor's second term, Giuliani secretly moved all 2,100 boxes of mayoral files and videos from his eight years in office. The records, which by law were to become the property of the Municipal archives, were transferred to a gated private storage facility, and their control was transferred to the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Affairs, a newly-established private nonprofit group controlled by Giuliani.

  Angry archivists and historians denounced the unprecedented hijacking of public property to private hands. Tom Connors, of the Society of American Archivists, said the transfer seemed part of a movement to "create barriers to the American citizen's right to know what their governments are doing."

• Profiting From His Hero Status
  In February, 2002, Giuliani insisted upon transferring guardianship of the $100 million remaining in the city-run Twin Towers Fund to a private charity he controlled.

  The families of the police and fire rescuers who died in the attack balked at Giuliani's plan to take up to a year to dole out the money, with his new organization billing $2.2 million in anticipated administrative expenses (including six-figure salaries for friends he appointed as officers). The families argued that the fire union had far more quickly distributed $111 million with an estimated administrative cost of just $30,000.

  Under embarrassing pressure from the victims' families, unions and state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, Giuliani backed down. He promised to distribute the money within 60 days and fund his overhead from new donations. The families of the deceased rescuers, the real heroes of the September 11 attacks, received a one-time benefit of about $230,000 each from the Giuliani-privatized fund in 2002. That year, the former mayor earned some $8 million in speaking fees alone, more than $650,000 per month.

• Heather MacDonald, City Journal, January 14, 2004 (FrontPageMag.com)
  Former mayor Rudolph Giuliani sued all the way up to the Supreme Court to defend the city’s sanctuary policy against a 1996 federal law decreeing that cities could not prohibit their employees from cooperating with the INS. Oh yeah? said Giuliani; just watch me. The INS, he claimed, with what turned out to be grotesque irony, only aims to “terrorize people.” Though he lost in court, he remained defiant to the end. On September 5, 2001, his handpicked charter-revision committee ruled that New York could still require that its employees keep immigration information confidential to preserve trust between immigrants and government. Six days later, several visa-overstayers participated in the most devastating attack on the city and the country in history.

  New York conveniently forgot the 1996 federal ban on sanctuary laws until a gang of five Mexicans—four of them illegal—abducted and brutally raped a 42-year-old mother of two near some railroad tracks in Queens. The NYPD had already arrested three of the illegal aliens numerous times for such crimes as assault, attempted robbery, criminal trespass, illegal gun possession, and drug offenses. The department had never notified the INS.

  On the issues: Liberal Party endorsement of Giuliani

  National Review: Rockefeller quote

  New York Observer: Reagan Republican quote

  New York Observer: Republican convention quote

  New York Observer: Goldwater quote

  New York Observer: Clinton quote

  New York Observer: 'Good hands' quote

[narses]

Rudy Guiliani has marched in lockstep with liberals on affirmative action, gay rights, gay marriage, gun control, school prayer, tuition tax credits, liberal immigration policies, and he's reinforced it, time and time again. Just about everytime Rudy opens his mouth, offensive liberal words come pouring out. As Mayor, Rudy put liberals in high-paid city jobs, an indication what a Rudy WH would look like. Here then is Rudy in his own words:

--The New York State Liberal Party on its endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for Mayor: "When the Liberal Party Policy Committee reviewed a list of key social issues of deep concern to progressive New Yorkers, we found that Rudy Giuliani agreed with the Liberal Party's stance on a majority of such issues. He agreed with the Liberal Party's views on affirmative action, gay rights, gun control, school prayer and tuition tax credits. As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani would uphold the Constitutional and legal rights to abortion." N.Y.S. Liberal Party Endorsement Statement of Candidate Giuliani for Mayor of New York City April 8, 1989

--On the Republican Party: "Mr. Rockefeller represented 'a tradition in the Republican Party' I've worked hard to re-kindle - the Rockefeller, Javits, Lefkowitz tradition." Rudy Giuliani told the New York Times July 9, 1992

--Village Voice Interview with Guiliani: He was asked: "What kind of Republican Is [Giuliani]? A Reagan Republican?" Giuliani pauses before answering: "I'm a Republican." Village Voice January 24, 1989

--On Attending 1996 Republican Convention: Rudy expressed his pleasure when he wasn't invited to the Republican National Convention in San Diego. "If I take three or four days off from city business, I want to do it for a substantive purpose. It didn't seem to me any substantive purpose could be served by going to the Republican convention." said Rudy. Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Page 459, by Wayne Barrett

--On Barry Goldwater: Giuliani described John Kennedy as "great and brilliant. Barry Goldwater as an "incompetent, confused and sometimes idiotic man." New York Daily News, May 13, 1997

--On President Bill Clinton: Shortly before his last-minute endorsement of Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election, Giuliani told the Post's Jack Newfield that "most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Wayne Barrett.

--The Daily News quoted Giuliani as saying March 1996: "Whether you talk about President Clinon, Senator Dole.... The country would be in very good hands in the hands of any of that group." An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, Wayne Barrett.

[narses]

The Real Rudy Giuliani:

From Human Events:

Rudy's Strong Pro-Abortion Stance

As these comments from a 1989 conversation with Phil Donahue show, Rudy Giuliani is staunchly in favor of abortion:

"I've said that I'll uphold a woman's right of choice, that I will fund abortion so that a poor woman is not deprived of a right that others can exercise, and that I would oppose going back to a day in which abortions were illegal.

I do that in spite of my own personal reservations. I have a daughter now; if a close relative or a daughter were pregnant, I would give my personal advice, my religious and moral views ...

Donahue: Which would be to continue the pregnancy.

Giuliani: Which would be that I would help her with taking care of the baby. But if the ultimate choice of the woman - my daughter or any other woman - would be that in this particular circumstance [if she had] to have an abortion, I'd support that. I'd give my daughter the money for it."

Worse yet, Giuliani even supports partial birth abortion:

"I'm pro-choice. I'm pro-gay rights,Giuliani said. He was then asked whether he supports a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions. "No, I have not supported that, and I don't see my position on that changing," he responded." -- CNN.com, "Inside Politics" Dec 2, 1999

It's bad enough that Rudy is so adamantly pro-abortion, but consider what that could mean when it comes time to select Supreme Court Justices. Does the description of Giuliani that you've just read make you think he's going to select an originalist like Clarence Thomas, who would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade -- or does it make you think he would prefer justices like Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy who'd leave Roe v. Wade in place?

Rudy's abortion stance is bad news for conservatives who are pro-life or who are concerned about getting originalist judges on the Supreme Court.

An Anti-Second Amendment Candidate

In the last couple of election cycles, 2nd Amendment issues have moved to the back burner mainly because even Democratic candidates have learned that being tagged with the "gun grabber" label is political poison.

Unfortunately, Rudy Giuliani is a proponent of gun control who supported the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapon Ban.

Do Republicans really want to abandon their strong 2nd Amendment stance by selecting a pro-gun control nominee?