Anyone remember way back in 2007 when now Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said this about torture?
“I wanted to ask you two questions,’’ she said. “One, do you think waterboarding is torture? And two, do you think the president can order something like waterboarding even though it’s against U.S. and international law?’’
Mr. Giuliani responded: “O.K. First of all, I don’t believe the attorney general designate in any way was unclear on torture. I think Democrats said that; I don’t think he was.’’
Ms. Gustitus said: “He said he didn’t know if waterboarding is torture.”
Mr. Giuliani said: “Well, I’m not sure it is either. I’m not sure it is either. It depends on how it’s done. It depends on the circumstances. It depends on who does it. I think the way it’s been defined in the media, it shouldn’t be done. The way in which they have described it, particularly in the liberal media. So I would say, if that’s the description of it, then I can agree, that it shouldn’t be done. But I have to see what the real description of it is. Because I’ve learned something being in public life as long as I have. And I hate to shock anybody with this, but the newspapers don’t always describe it accurately.” [...]
“Now, on the question of torture. We should not torture. America should not stand for torture, America should not allow torture. But America should engage in aggressive questioning of Islamic terrorists who are arrested or who are apprehended. Because if we don’t we leave ourselves open to significant attack.”
It seems those goalposts have shifted now that Giuliani is out making the rounds trying to defend the indefensible in the wake of the redacted Mueller report. Here's what Giuliani called torture today during a back and forth with CNN's Jake Tapper over whether we should believe former White House Counsel Don McGahn's testimony that Trump wanted him to have Rod Rosenstein remove Robert Mueller as special counsel.
TAPPER: So we shouldn't take this as exoneration of the president because the document is not credible?
GIULIANI: We shouldn't take it as exoneration --
TAPPER: You're saying this document is not credible.
GIULIANI: No! No! How about looking at it this way? People who were unfair to him, people who wrote an unfair report, people who came close to torturing people to get information and break them...
TAPPER: Came close to torture? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Came close to torturing people?
GIULIANI: Yes. How about having Manafort in solitary confinement and questioning him thirteen times? Maybe torture...
TAPPER: You were a prosecutor. Did you put people in solitary confinement?
GIULIANI: To question them? Absolutely not. I put one in solitary confinement because he threatened to kill me. […] Did I put him in solitary confinement and bring him back thirteen times to question him, tell him they're lying, telling them that they really knew that the president was involved in the collusion when they didn't? No, I never did that, and I'd fire anybody who did it, and Andrew Weissman never should have been working for him because Andrew Weissman is a hit man. Demonstrated...
TAPPER: Andrew Weissman is a hit man?
GIULIANI: A hit man in terms of the way in which he operates...
TAPPER: He's an aggressive prosecutor.
GIULIANI: Read Sydney Powell's book about how he prosecuted people from Arthur Andersen. The case went out 9-0 in the Supreme Court, no crime committed, Arthur Anderson destroyed. Look at the Merrill Lynch people, kept in jail for seven months, found innocent. He wouldn't let them out on bail pending appeal in a white collar case. Look at the situations in which he withheld exculpatory evidence. This guy shouldn't have been working, and I will amend hit man if anybody is too sensitive. What I mean is unethical prosecutor, but you guys didn't care! And he put together a staff of Hillary loving, Trump hating people, lead by an investigator who luckily, we have his texts, who wanted to prevent Donald Trump from being president, who wanted to remove him afterwards.
TAPPER: Robert Mueller very well regarded, Republican, former head of the FBI.
GIULIANI: Maybe he wasn't paying attention.
TAPPER:When he was appointed, Republicans, including president Trump supporters like Newt Gingrich a praised him. Who put forth a report...
GIULIANI: You got it.
TAPPER: ...that ultimately cleared president trump.
GIULIANI: And that takes every cheap shot imaginable because he couldn't prove it --
TAPPER: You call it cheap shots. Other people call it evidence.
