Jodi Enda is a political journalist and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. A former White House correspondent, she is editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress, deputy editor-in-chief of CNN, and directed the 2016 election book Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything. The opinions in this commentary are her own. Read more opinions on CNN.
(CNN)How will you know when Rudy Giuliani hit rock bottom?
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Giuliani, hailed as a hero for hiscalm leadership, became the target of criminal investigations seeking to overturn the will of Georgia. I found out this week that it is. He is a voter in the 2020 presidential election.
Jodi Enda appears in this undated file her image. (Courtesy of Hai-Lam Phan)
In his 20-odd-plus years since earning the title of 'Mayor of America', Giuliani has been involved in a great many dubious and questionable cases. has been involved in Just a strange affair that made him a favorite of late-night talk show hosts and Saturday Night Live impersonators.
He has become a caricature of himself, but it is only Giuliani, not the comedians who make fun of him, who turn his life into a tragicomedy.
It is easy to point out that the pinnacle of his career was his painful fall of 2001. did it occur? Or is there still a former prosecutor-turned-lawyer turned ex-President Trump?
History is filled with tragic figures (mostly men) who squandered power, fame and reputation. There was Aaron Burr, Benedict Arnold (whose name itself became a slur), Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee. More recently, former President Richard Nixon and O. J. Simpson, Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, just to name a few. Some would add Donald Trump, but I'll save his story for another day.
Giuliani had much to lose when he hitched his wagon to the Trump star. Although his mayoral power ended, he still retained a dominant presence in the city he once led. His tradesbrought him wealth. His reputation was tainted, but not in tatters. Anyway, not yet.
On Wednesday, Giuliani testified before a special grand jury investigating Team Trump's efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's victory in Fulton County, Georgia. He testified for about six hours. His attorney refused to discuss the content of his testimony, but his appearance in court in Atlanta made Giuliani one of the most high-profile Trump aides to ever testify in the election fraud investigation. became a senior member.
Giuliani told Georgia legislators in December 2020 that he had evidence of voter fraud, which state Republican election officials claimed to have proved false.His current investigation means the former federal prosecutor could be indicted. That would definitely be his lowest point. At least, so far.
Of course, his legal troubles may not end there. And it certainly isn't the beginning.
Last year, a New York state appeals court suspendedGiuliani's legal license in response to allegations of false election fraud in Georgia and many other states.Washington, DC followed suit. He and another Trump attorney, Sidney Powell, were accused of falsely claiming that theDominion voting systemrigged voting machines to secure a Biden victory. .
Good news for Giuliani, but it seems unlikely that he will be indicted in a federal investigation into whether he illegally lobbied the Trump administration and fired the then-US ambassador to Ukraine. . , according to the New York Times. Ambassador Maria L. Yovanovitchplayed a major role in Trump's first impeachment trial.
Still, his ongoing legal troubles are a former U.S. attorney who made a name for himself fighting corrupt politicians, mob bosses, Wall Street giants and mayors who spearheaded the nation's politics. represents an amazing downfall for. The biggest city through some of its darkest days. In fact, the phrase "falling from grace" is a common phrase in stories about Giuliani's career trajectory.
Even when Giuliani was a respected official,controversy swirled around him. In the fall of 1992, just before he ran for mayor, Giuliani was the instigator of one of the largest riots in New York. City Hall while the uniformed police stand idly by. The mob, mostly white, was protesting against the city's first black mayor, David Dinkins.
During his two terms in office, violent crime declined sharply, as happened in many large cities in the 1990s. Giuliani is known for cracking down on the Squeegeeman, closing adult theaters, gentrifying Manhattan, and making New York safer and more livable for mostly white people living in working-class neighborhoods elsewhere. Now The phrase "Giuliani's time" has become a common saying among those well served by the mayor.
But for the homeless and people of color,especially black and Latino youth,unconstitutionalal .
Giuliani's legacy was further undermined by repeated vicious police brutality against black men. Two police officers were convicted after violently sodomizing Haitian immigrant Abner Luima with a toilet plunger(one conviction was later overturned). (91) Four acquitted after killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea. To confirm, and equally importantly,the mayor seemed indifferent to that
had turned a blind eye to police brutality against the black underclass.
Giuliani was also involved in clowning acts, such as the 2000 comedy His skit. He wrapped himself in drugs, then businessman Donald Trump his Mr. Trump shoved his face into the mayor's chest. It was pretty low, but probably not rock bottom.
Then 9.11 happened. Giuliani, George W. President Bush's twin guides to the rubble of his tower, his paternal figure, proclaimed that New York will be rebuilt and 'fromthis mighty will be stronger than it was before' .
Oprah Winfrey called him "Mayor of America." Time magazine made him man of the year. It caused a national tragedy, but Giuliani met the moment and reached the pinnacle of his success. he was right New York would be rebuilt, but mostly Giuliani's successor, Michael Bloomberg, took office on his January 1, 2002. There were two of his divorces, one of which he announced publicly before telling his wife. (His first marriage was annulled after 14 years on the grounds that the two were second cousins) The 2008 presidential election was short-lived (he once answered the phone call of his third wife). Cancellation of 2020 Senate electionsOxyContin makers Purdue Pharmaand later Work on Ukraine
Roads There are bumps and dips, but it's not the bottom.
Giuliani returned to public life in his 2016, joining the Trump campaign and playing a major role. “I have no confidence in President Trump without Rudy,” former campaign chief executive Steve Bannon told Rolling Stone. Appear on news programs to defend him. Giuliani wanted to be Secretary of State in return, but it never happened.
Giuliani instead became Trump's personal attorney and co-conspiracy theorist. During the 2016 election, he tried to spread the hoax that Hillary Clinton was ill. In 2020, he hypothesized thatChina deliberately released thecoronavirus.
But the biggest and most vicious outrage of them all was Giuliani's repeatedly debunked claim thatelectoral fraudrobbed President Trump of office. . The election lies promoted by Trump, Giuliani and others have grown and grown wilder over time. Ultimately, they provoked Trump supporters to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, the date Congress set to prove Biden's election.
That day, Giuliani told thousands of Trump supporters gathered at the Oval that Vice President Mike Pence, who oversees the certification, had the authority to send the election back to the states. It was a mistakeand he stood by while Trump encouraged his followers to march on the Capitol.
people died. Democracy was out of balance. rock bottom.
Of course, as any Giuliani watcher knows, he had some less serious (some laugh out loud) flaws. For example, he had his hands in his pants in a Borat film. Or when heshaved his faceat an airport restaurant. In the parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscape in Philadelphia, there was a strange, conspiracy-filled press conference.
Perhaps the most embarrassing Giuliani moment was during a press conference intended to draw attention to (non-existent) voter fraud, when a black liquid that looked like hair dye was dripped onto his face. It was when I fellGreat late night fodder, but probably not rock bottom.
But now things are serious for the wide-eyed ex-mayor. There are now potential legal consequences in Georgia and elsewhere.
Perhaps Giuliani has finally hit rock bottom. Alternatively, his one of countless investigations into election fraud may lead to new lows. Criminal charges, imprisonment, rudeness for life. It's hard to tell how far Giuliani has strayed from "hero."