Rudy Giuliani should be embarrassed by his decision to support corrupt Romanian kleptocrats in return for wads of cash.
Giuliani, a former New York City mayor with an honorable if controversial record of public service, has provided his support with a letter to various Romanian politicians expressing “my concern about the continued damage to the rule of law in Romania, committed under the pretext of law enforcement.” Giuliani argues that the law has been “undermined by the excesses of Romania’s National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) under the leadership of former Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi.”
And Giuliani is clear on what he thinks should happen next: “An amnesty should be given to those who have been charged and convicted as a result of excess [DNA anti-corruption activities].”
Here’s some context: Romania is in the middle of a fight for its political soul. On one side is a population yearning for a modicum of integrity from their elected officials. On the other side is a political class accustomed to getting rich off skimmed government contracts, bribes, and hidden bank accounts. Laura Kovesi, the former prosecutor who Giuliani attacks, was Romania’s Eliot Ness. She was leading the effort to bring a new rule of law to her nation, but she was purged from office after the elites decided she was too good at her job.
It would be pathetic for any American to defend Romania’s corruption, but it’s especially so coming from Giuliani. After all, this is the same former prosecutor who made his political career smashing organized crime syndicates in New York. To see such a man now lapping at the well of corruption abroad is disheartening.
Still, morals aside, what sweet lapping it must be. As the New York Times reports, Giuliani says his letter was paid for under his retention by the Freeh Group. The Times notes that the Freeh Group has been hired by a corrupt Romanian businessman, “Gabriel Popoviciu, who was sentenced to seven years in prison in August 2017 in a case centered on a real-estate deal in northern Bucharest.”
Giuliani should be ashamed. He’s sold part of his soul for a few thousand bucks.
