When it comes to foreign policy, the Trump administration has enough difficulty keeping its own story (and facts) straight without Rudy Giuliani sticking his fingers into the mess.
President Trump has promised a new nuclear deal on Iran and, along with it, stability. Now Giuliani is getting in the way. That’s bad news for the prospects of a new deal, and it likely sets Trump up for further difficulty and scrutiny as he prepares to chair the U.N. Security Council meeting on Iran.
On Saturday, the former New York city mayor turned presidential defender spoke at an event sponsored by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a group associated with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq which was once listed as a terrorist organization and is pushing for Iranian regime change. At that Manhattan event, he told his audience that the U.S. was in fact working for regime change in Iran. “I don’t know when we’re going to overthrow them,” he said. “It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it’s going to happen.”
The problem with this is that Iranian regime change isn’t currently part of Trump’s plan or any official U.S. policy. As U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, told CNN: “The United States is not looking to do a regime change in Iran.” She added, “We’re not looking to do regime change anywhere.”
Giuliani’s weekend remarks are not his first off-the-cuff comments that cut against the administration’s current policy. He has previously taken public stances against an anti-corruption campaign in Romania, and he has done work for the governments of Qatar, Ukraine, Serbia and others. Giuliani is not registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department, he explains, because he does not directly lobby Trump or the government on any of those clients’ behalf.
But that’s not really how the law works. The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires anyone attempting to influence U.S. policy on behalf of a foreign entity to register – not just those engaging in direct lobbying. Already, Democratic Senators have asked the Justice Department to look into whether Trump’s lawyer is lobbying for foreign interests and thereby breaking the law. Now, given Giuliani’s statements of U.S. policy towards Iran and previous links to Mujahedin-e-Khalq, as well as previous admissions that his advice to Trump isn’t purely legal, DOJ will likely have a difficult time credibly sidestepping that request.
Giuliani has already been rebuked by the State Department for his meddling in foreign policy. Earlier this summer, Giuliani said that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un begged for a meeting with Trump “on his hands and knees.” Giuliani’s remarks prompted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to respond: “Rudy doesn’t speak for the administration when it comes to this negotiation and this set of issues.”
Giuliani is Trump’s personal lawyer to deal with the ongoing Russia probe. He should stick to that role and keep his advice to the president away from foreign policy.
