Scandal makes strange bedfellows.
Republican former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has defended embattled Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid the latter’s sexual harassment imbroglio, arguing that Cuomo has had his reputation irreparably damaged without due process.
Giuliani, who also served as a personal lawyer to former president and frequent Cuomo rival Donald Trump, spoke out starting Tuesday when independent investigators retained by state Attorney General Letitia James announced their conclusion that Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women in violation of state and federal law.
“Today’s AG James’ ‘trial by press conference’ marks the end of Due Process and Constitutional Law as we know it in America!” tweeted Giuliani, 77. “Conviction by a press conference, investigative report, and media verdict without a trial became illegal one thousand years ago.”
In a separate tweet, Giuliani said that Cuomo might well be guilty of the alleged conduct, but depriving him of the opportunity to defend himself in a court of the law runs counter to American ideals.
“Cuomo may be guilty, but we used to have trials before convictions,” he wrote. “That’s what Cuomo’s Democrat allies denied President Trump. There would be poetic justice if they did that to Cuomo, but it would be unjust, dangerous, and entirely un-American.”
As if the ideological disparity between the two men didn’t make the show of support odd enough, it also comes as Giuliani’s son, also named Andrew, has announced his candidacy to unseat Cuomo.
The younger Giuliani issued a statement hours after James unveiled her damning probe results, calling for Cuomo’s head.
“First and foremost, the 11 victims of Andrew Cuomo’s criminal sexual harassment deserve our respect and admiration for bravely stepping forward to tell their stories despite threats and risk to their reputation and professional careers. We hear you regardless of how Cuomo is trying to discredit you and justify his unacceptable behavior today.
“Knowing that Andrew Cuomo will not give up his access to power and resign, I am calling on the assembly and legislature to reconvene to begin impeachment proceedings against him. It is time to protect the statehouse and all New Yorkers from Cuomo’s ongoing misconduct,” Andrew Giuliani concluded.
The governor, 63, has consistently maintained that he has never touched anyone inappropriately and said Tuesday in response to one alleged victim’s reported interest in filing a suit that he would “welcome the opportunity for a full and fair review before a judge and a jury.”
In a third tweet, Rudy Giuliani — who also served as US attorney for New York’s Southern District from 1983 through 1989 — agreed.
“The truth of the charges against Cuomo should be determined by a trial of an impeachment and/or an indictment, not by the media,” he wrote — while not fully letting Cuomo off the hook. “Also, the covered-up allegations of sending the elderly to death in nursing homes, rather than to available safe beds, should be tried by a jury.”
Though several prosecutors’ offices across the state are investigating the findings laid out in the sexual harassment report, Cuomo has not been charged with a crime or hit with a civil suit in the matter.
In an episode of his YouTube show, “Rudy Giuliani’s Common Sense,” the man once dubbed “America’s Mayor” for his calm in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks aimed at James.
“The attorney general of the State of New York has destroyed 800 years of Anglo-American law,” he said. “Trashed it completely and acted like a tyrant.
“These are the things that happen in fascist governments. They don’t happen in a government that is ruled by law.”