Former New York City Mayor and Trump supporter Rudy Giuliani engaged in a tense back-and-forth with MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews on Wednesday night over Trump’s Second Amendment comments, but it was Giuliani absolutely schooling Matthews on the latest developments involving Hillary Clinton’s e-mail and Clinton Foundation scandals that stood out.
Moments beforehand, Matthews seemingly felt offended that he (of all people) was being lumped in by Giuliani as media types receiving Clinton talking points and so he went on a brief tangent about there being “no history of me every working for the Clintons.”
“I'm not working for the Clintons. I can tell you that. There’s no history of me — Mr. Mayor, there is no history of me ever working for the Clintons. So I don't know what that means,” he exclaimed.
After spending a significant amount of time on Trump’s gun remarks, Giuliani exploded on Matthews for “attack[ing]” Trump “mercilessly and you leave Hillary Clinton alone” while “[t]he much bigger story today is how she sold out the State Department for the Clinton Foundation.”
Matthews showed no class and his liberal strain by actually laughing at Giuliani’s statement and so Giuliani spent the next minute and a half excoriating the Clintons and educating Matthews on what he should be spending time on his show doing:
By taking money into the Clinton Foundation in the millions and in some cases, the hundreds of millions of dollars. $1.2 million speaking fees to Bill Clinton and then her, and her acolytes, Huma Abedin and the rest of them doing favors for the people who were paying huge amounts of money to get money to the Lebanese ambassador, in order to get uranium for Russia, uranium for Russia, in order to get UBS off the hook from a case in which the IRS was trying to get UBS's secret bank accounts, and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, called them and said, go easy on them. That's right after, or right before Bill Clinton got a $1.2 million speaking fee.
Before the Hardball host changed the topic by accosting the former leader of New York City for turning his back on a former U.S. Senator from his state, Giuliani drew from his time as a U.S. Attorney to preview how he’d draw out a legal case against the Clintons:
By the way, they’re joint filers, joint tax payers. I could indict them. If I were the U.S. Attorney under 18 USC section 701, which is the conflict of interest section, if I have it right. In a minute and I believe, you give me enough time, I could develop a racketeering enterprise case on the Clinton Foundation. It is a foundation found to be a completely useless charitable organization about 10 percent going to charity and about 90 percent going to the Clinton people, including the Clintons. That's a much bigger story.
The relevant portions of the transcript from MSNBC’s Hardball on August 11 can be found below.
MSNBC’s Hardball
August 10, 20167:09 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS MATTHEWS: I'm not working for the Clintons. I can tell you that. There’s no history of me — Mr. Mayor, there is no history of me ever working for the Clintons. So I don't know what that means. You're saying that a person watching that speech yesterday couldn't get idea that maybe he meant put your guns to work here?
(....)
7:13 p.m. Eastern
RUDY GIULIANI: I believe you attack him mercilessly and you leave Hillary Clinton alone. [MATTHEWS LAUGHS] The much bigger story today is how she sold out the State Department —
MATTHEWS: How so?
GIULIANI: — for the Clinton Foundation.
MATTHEWS: Explain how she did it?
GIULIANI: By taking money into the Clinton Foundation in the millions and in some cases, the hundreds of millions of dollars. $1.2 million speaking fees to Bill Clinton and then her, and her acolytes, Huma Abedin and the rest of them doing favors for the people who were paying huge amounts of money to get money to the Lebanese ambassador, in order to get uranium for Russia, uranium for Russia, in order to get UBS off the hook from a case in which the IRS was trying to get UBS's secret bank accounts, and Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, called them and said, go easy on them. That's right after, or right before Bill Clinton got a $1.2 million speaking fee. By the way, they’re joint filers, joint tax payers. I could indict them. If I were the U.S. Attorney under 18 USC section 701, which is the conflict of interest section, if I have it right. In a minute and I believe, you give me enough time, I could develop a racketeering enterprise case on the Clinton Foundation. It is a foundation found to be a completely useless charitable organization about 10 percent going to charity and about 90 percent going to the Clinton people, including the Clintons. That's a much bigger story.
MATTHEWS: Can I ask you a professional question? What is more professionally satisfying? Defending Giuliani — defending Donald Trump? Or attacking Hillary Clinton? What’s more satisfying?
MATTHEWS: What is more satisfying is defending Donald Trump because I —
MATTHEWS: I don't think so.
GIULIANI: I know he is a good man and I believe Hillary Clinton from the day she was a bagman for Bill Clinton and the Rose Law —
MATTHEWS: Aw. You’re —
GIULIANI: — is crooked. I believe she is dishonest and she is someone, as a U.S. Attorney, I am outraged is running for president of the United States.
MATTHEWS: You never said any of this back during the days of 9/11 and everything you were working together, arm in arm and you were working together quite well. You said a lot of good things about each other. Now, all of a sudden since it is a partisan arena, she is no good. Where did that come from? When did you come one this verdict on Hillary Clinton?
GIULIANI: I have been — I have been pointing out the crimes she committed for the last two years, if you paid attention, Chris, because I had no idea she broke her promise that she wouldn't be involved with the Clinton Foundation when she became secretary of state. I had no idea of that back then when she was senator from new York and by the way, she wasn't a heck of a good senator. I never relied on her for anything I always went to Chuck Schumer. All she was doing was running for president. When I was mayor of New York, the senators I relied were Moynihan, DeMatto, and Schumer. They got stuff done for New York. She went around making speeches, promising jobs in upstate New York which are now falling apart because of her ridiculous energy policies.
MATTHEWS: Okay, She did get reelected. How did that happen?
GIULIANI: Because this is a Democratic state and they’d reelect a Democrat in jail in some cases. I think we actually in our history have done that. This is a —
MATTHEWS: I want to ask you a question. Do you wish you had run against her?
GIULIANI: Hey, you can't redo history, right? I got prostate —
MATTHEWS: Do you wish now that you ran against her? If she is so terrible for new York, don’t you wish we had run against her?
GIULIANI: The only way I will feel guilty that this is if this woman who should be prosecuted. Because nobody is above the law. If this woman becomes president of the United States, I will probably feel like maybe God gave me prostate cancer at the wrong time.
MATTHEWS: Okay because, you did have a shot at her, but anyway, thank you, Mayor Giuliani. It would have been a hell of a race against — it would have been a hell of between you and Hillary. Anyway, maybe you can still get in this race.
