Perhaps the headline is a tad off – like Bratty Matty Gaetz ole Rudy G is fighting to keep a report hidden. Gaetz as we know fought tooth and nail to keep that House Ethics Report on his depravity bottled up. And as of this morning LOST. It’s out now and I’m looking forward to settling in and reading it. From what I gather from the not enough news coverage it’s as bad (for Gaetz and his political future) as we all thought. Well, Rudy is having his own issues and his original lawyers chose to bail on him. That’s not an easy thing late in legal proceedings and a lawyer who cares about their own future needs to explain to the judge why they should be allowed to withdraw. In a formal court filing. That makes it a matter of public record. Of course sometimes legal proceeding remain under seal but there has to be a good reason. Rudy claims there’s every reason to keep just WHY his original lawyers wanted out. The judge doesn’t seem to think so, and now we have Rudy making like Gaetz and fighting to keep that motion sealed.
It’s not the most lively of new stories but you should still check out this article from Law & Crime. It lays out the timeline. If you’re reading this you know two Georgia election workers were defamed, and their very lives came under serious threat because Rudy doxxed them and kept lying about them. They sued and won. A massive judgement in fact. ($148 million) There was no way Rudy would ever be able to repay it but the guy did have resources so lawyers for Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman set about collecting what they could. Rudy decided to cry poverty, and even declared bankruptcy. For a guy who’s supposedly bankrupt he’s still living quite the lifestyle of the rich and famous but that’s a separate subject. The point is that Rudy has fought like hell not to pay up.
He has tested the patience of the courts and likely his antics (and no doubt asset hiding) are probably why his old legal team, lead Kenneth Caruso and co-counsel David Lebkowski decided they wanted to get the hell out of the whole mess. Those attorney/client conversations Rudy says should remain sealed (as privileged communications) likely involve him wanting them to help him evade the court ruling(s). Evade as in to the point where ethics standards that could lead to disciplinary actions (from the court or even the State Bar), and perhaps even laws would be violated. We may or may not find out but as I said earlier judge Liman seems to believe in the public’s right to know what goes on in legal proceedings in his court. That brings us up to where we now sit with Rudy’s current lawyer Joseph Cammarata filing a motion to basically say ‘this stuff should remain under seal:
The filing, from Giuliani’s new attorney, Joseph M. Cammarata, came in response to U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman ordering Giuliani and the plaintiffs in the case to inform the court whether they objected to unsealing the declarations from Giuliani’s former lead attorney, Kenneth Caruso, and former co-counsel, David Labkowski, regarding why they chose to withdraw from representing the former New York City mayor — a move they made without informing their client.
Rudy and Cammarata say the original lawyers should never have filed their motion in the first place. Well, that’s a matter of opinion to be sure. I’m sure they had their reasons, which could range from not getting paid to taking legal risks on their client’s behalf (as I’ve alluded to) they weren’t willing to take. However, this current filing says the whole issue has been “rendered moot” because the original lawyers signed a consent decree switching lawyers. That consent order was filed a day after the original lawyers filed to withdraw but the judge never signed the order.
Again, Rudy wants to keep things sealed up. He and his lawyer say they are ready for a proceeding in mid-January (sure – ten bucks says they’ll be filing for a continuance!) and that making the motion to withdraw it from the public would hurt his case. He’s also claiming it would reveal privileged attorney client communications. That’s the part that catches my eye. Communications between attorneys and clients ARE privileged. However, in every jurisdiction there’s something known as the Crime-Fraud exception. If a client wants the attorney to do things that are illegal or worse assist the client in breaking laws (that crime and fraud – in this case hiding assets) it’s NOT protected communications.
For me at least that suggests Rudy, who as a prosecutor wielded that ‘crime-fraud’ exception in cases has reason to worry. Plainly put if it’s revealed his original lawyers quit to prevent getting their own gonads caught in the meat grinder it will in fact hurt his case. ‘Bigly.’ In the end though it comes down to a question of court proceedings being a matter of public record. Yes, some things can and should remain sealed. However as much as possible it should be out there for the public to see. It would seem the judge, someone with whom Rudy has made a point of antagonizing agrees:
In the Friday order, Liman cited legal precedent which states that “each passing day where access to court-filed documents is improperly denied ‘may constitute a separate and cognizable infringement of the First Amendment.’”
Well, it’s something to keep an eye on. Like Gaetz, Rudy might have a lot to hide. Unlike Gaetz however Rudy Giuliani is still very much caught up in the court system. Not just this particular matter either. He’s under criminal indictment at the state level and in more than one place. If his former attorney’s said to a COURT they wanted to be released from defending him because he tried to get them to help break the law it’s going to hurt Rudy’s legal defense in multiple courtrooms. So enjoy Gaetz finally getting a long overdue measure of comeuppance. Sort of a big Christmas dinner desert to enjoy. Rudy, if that motion is made public just might be a big helping of Cool Whip on top of the whole thing!
He’s still living? All the pictures look like a dead man walking. One thing I’ve learned being in a deep southern black family for 20 years as the only white person…Rudy…big mistake phucking with southern black women. They are battle tested and always ready to throw down if necessary. Maybe you should tie a millstone around your neck and throw yourself into the east river. Faster. Less pain. And who knows…you know when people die they always get more positive reviews than they actually warrant. Just a suggestion. Don’t wear the hair dye. It’s clearly not waterproof.