Lawyer and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani has long been a key figure in former President Donald Trump‘s inner circle, maintaining his insider status even as dozens of Trump advisors — Chris Christie, Elaine Chao, Rex Tillerson, Michael Cohen, Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, and Mark Esper (just for starters) — have been cast out and ridiculed by their former boss.
So news that Giuliani voluntarily agreed to talk to federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and hold on to power after his election loss sent shockwaves through the MAGA universe.
The agreement under which Giuliani spoke with prosecutors is called a “proffer agreement.”
Lawyer Bradley Moss described the Giuliani legal revelation this way: “Big news is this wasn’t just an interview: it was a proffer session. Rudy is trying to avoid an indictment.“
Big news is this wasn’t just an interview: it was a proffer session. Rudy is trying to avoid an indictment.
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) June 28, 2023
Giuliani Sat for Voluntary Interview in Jan. 6 Investigation https://t.co/bd8q8J2CgS
Perhaps the most famous example of a proffer agreement used to take down a criminal boss who demands loyalty was the 1991 deal prosecutors struck with mobster Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, an underboss in the Gambino crime family.
Gravano’s testimony helped prosecutors convict infamous mob boss John Gotti — known as “Teflon Don” for ability to avoid conviction — on murder and racketeering charges.
Under the proffer agreement, Gravano agreed to provide extensive cooperation and testify as a witness for the government in exchange for a reduced sentence. He admitted to his participation in multiple criminal activities and provided crucial testimony against his boss during Gotti’s 1992 trial.
Giuliani, formerly U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is very familiar with proffer deals. Before he became nationally famous for his response to the September 11 attacks, Giuliani was best known as a ferocious prosecutor who went after organized crime.
Giuliani wasn’t always against the FBI either, nor did he profess the government was “weaponized” early in his career. Instead as a prosecutor, Giuliani used critical evidence obtained by the Bureau to prosecute the 11 organized crime figures in the mid 1980s.
As Wikipedia describes Giuliani’s prosecution: “the heads of New York City’s Five Families, were indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder. Eight of them were convicted under RICO, and most were sentenced to 100 years in prison.”
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