Former President Donald Trump received a target letter from special counsel Jack Smith in the January 6 investigation but his former attorney, ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, evaded a similar fate after meeting with prosecutors.
Giuliani has not received a target letter, his attorney told CNN's Paula Reid, and he does not expect to be charged after he completed a voluntary interview with special counsel investigators several weeks ago.
JUST IN: Rudy Giuliani has NOT received a target letter in 1/6 probe, his lawyer tells me. As CNN previously reported, Rudy, did a voluntary interview with Special Counsel investigators several weeks back. His lawyer does not expect him to be charged.
— Paula Reid (@PaulaReidCNN) July 18, 2023
The former president on Tuesday announced in a lengthy statement shared on Truth Social that the special counsel had informed him that he was a target of the Justice Department's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Trump's target letter could be a sign of another criminal indictment for the ex-president, per ABC News, which would mark his third in recent months. In June, Trump was federally indicted for allegedly mishandling classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and in March, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict him on charges related to a 2016 hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Giuliani avoiding charges suggests that he may have "flipped to some degree," national security attorney Bradley Moss tweeted.
Sounds like Rudy flipped to some degree. https://t.co/potYEtkao4
— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) July 18, 2023
Ted Goodman, a political advisor to Giuliani, denied that he had "flipped."
"Any speculation that Mayor Rudy Giuliani 'flipped' against President Donald Trump is as false as previous lies that America's Mayor was somehow a Russian Agent," he said in an email. "In order to 'flip,' on President Trump—as so many in the anti-Trump media are fantasizing over—Mayor Giuliani would've had to commit perjury because all the information he has regarding [this] case points to President Trump's innocence."
Giuliani met with prosecutors for two days "queen for a day" proffer sessions, in which individuals share useful information with prosecutors in exchange for limited immunity, according to The Messenger.
Giuliani attorney Robert Costello denied that the former mayor had flipped earlier this week.
"I can tell you point blank, outright, without fear of retribution or correction, there was no quid pro quo," Costello told The Messenger. "We didn't get anything in return. We were telling the truth and we had nothing to hide because Rudy Giuliani didn't do anything wrong. It's that simple."
Costello added that "there is nothing" for Trump or anyone associated with him to "worry about because we didn't implicate anybody in anything."
Asked if Giuliani would accept a cooperation agreement in exchange for immunity, Costello said "I'm not gonna answer their speculative question like that. They're not going to charge him."
But while proffer sessions typically last for a day, it is highly unusual for Giuliani to have met with prosecutors for two days.
"That is not standard operating procedure," former federal prosecutor and defense attorney Mitchell Epner told the outlet.
"One day? You don't know what to make of [it]," added Trump's former White House lawyer Ty Cobb. "Two days though suggests that the DOJ may be considering his value as a witness."
An unnamed source told The Messenger that Costello would not have sent Giuliani in for one day, let alone two, without asking something in return.
"I'm sure the pressure is immense," the source said. "At this point in Rudy's age and career, does that matter?"
Attorney Joseph Bondy, who represented former Giuliani associate Lev Parnas in connection to the Trump Ukraine scandal, told the outlet that Giuliani finds himself in a "different landscape" now that he is "no longer protected by the Trump cabal."
"The question is really, will he fall on the sword and protect the former president — who, it currently appears, could care less about him — or attempt to cooperate with the special prosecutor and mitigate the potential for conviction and a prison sentence at the age of 79?" he said.
While Giuliani may have evaded charges in connection to the federal probe, "Rudy has decent odds of being charged in Georgia," tweeted Georgia State University Law Prof. Anthony Michael Kreis.
Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis informed Giuliani last year that he is a target of her probe into TrumpWorld efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Willis is expected to hand down indictments in the probe in late July or early August.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with a statement from Giuliani's adviser.
