Former New York Mayor and federal prosecutor Rudy Giuliani, among the 18 co-defendants indicted along with former President Donald Trump for allegedly trying to subvert Georgia's 2020 election results, told Newsmax on Tuesday the racketeering charge he and the other defendants are facing is bogus.
And he would know more than anyone.
Giuliani pioneered the use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act when he was in the Reagan Justice Department in the 1980s and as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor. He wielded the RICO statute successfully against Mafia bosses and financiers such as Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken.
But on Monday night, Giuliani, Trump, and 17 others were indicted by Democrat Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, and among the charges each faces involves a violation of Georgia's RICO Act.
"This is a ridiculous application of the racketeering statute," Giuliani told "Eric Bolling The Balance." "There's probably no one that knows it better than I do. Probably some know it as well, but I was the first one to use it in white-collar [crimes].
"This is not meant for election disputes. This is ridiculous what she's doing."
Giuliani lit into Willis for allowing the indictment to be leaked on the court's website around noon Monday, long before the grand jury entered a decision.
"I don't know if she realizes it because she seems like a pretty incompetent, sloppy prosecutor, but what she did yesterday with that indictment is inexcusable," Giuliani said. "If she worked for me, I would have fired her. … You have to get [the grand jury] to vote before you can file the indictment, or you're just telling us that you treat the grand jury like a ham sandwich. Good prosecutors do not. Good prosecutors, honest prosecutors, honorable ones treat the grand jury with respect.
"Of course, they usually follow your recommendation. They should. I mean, the prosecutor should be responsible and sound. But I've had grand juries that haven't, and I let them because I believed in justice, not politics."
Giuliani said there is no doubt that he will be cooperating in the case.
"You're damn right I'm going to cooperate," Giuliani said. "I'm going to cooperate and show what criminals they are, and what they're doing to our Constitution, and how they're destroying it, and how they are a disgrace to my profession. That's what I'm going to cooperate with."
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