Not long after the DOJ requested all the January 6th committee’s transcripts, Rudy Giuliani suddenly changed his mind about testifying.
MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner offered his theory on why Giuliani changed his mind just two weeks after canceling an appearance because the committee would not allow him to record it.
KIRSCHNER: I don't know whether there is a cause in effect at play. But what have we learned in recent days? The Department of Justice has requested all of the transcripts from the January 6th committee for the 1,000+ witnesses that have appeared before the committee and provided testimony. So, all of a sudden, what do we learn? We learn that Bill Barr has apparently agreed to talk to the committee and now we know that Rudy Giuliani has testified to the committee for nine hours.
Is there a cause and effect in play here? You know, there may be.
But did Giuliani spend much of those nine hours trying to assert privileges and invoking his Fifth Amendment rights? Quite likely, says Kirschner.
KIRSCHNER: But I will tell you the one thing that surprises me most about Rudy Giuliani having testified is that he did it at all. Because I fully expected he would continue to offer privileges, whether legitimate or otherwise. He might have some legitimate attorney-client privilege claims with respect to information involving his representation of Donald Trump. He could try to assert an executive privilege claim, though I think that would be weak.
But there is one privilege claim that he absolutely has: It's a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Because we know that he is still under investigation by the Southern District of New York after a federal judge issued a warrant concluding there was probable cause to believe there was evidence of crime in Rudy's electronic devices.
So I don't know what the substance of his testimony was yesterday but I would be surprised if he didn't try to assert a whole bunch of privileges.
Host Katie Phang added, “I would also have been surprised if it was lucid and competent."
