Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now heading up Trump’s legal defense team, told Fox News’s Sean Hannity Wednesday what he thought of the potential of Special Counsel Robert Mueller putting the screws to White House Advisers first daughter Ivanka Trump and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Hannity asked Giuliani what would happen if Mueller and his investigators made Ivanka Trump a “target.”
“Ivanka Trump? I think I would get on my charger and go run into their offices with a lance,” Giuliani responded. “Now, if they do do Ivanka, which I doubt they will, the whole country will turn on them. They’re going after his daughter?”
The president’s new legal head was far less defensive of husband Jared, whom reports link closely to the decisions to fire FBI Director James Comey and National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, leading to the subsequent appointment of Mueller as special counsel. “Jared is a fine man, you know that” Giuliani joked, “but men are, you know, disposable.”
Reports have repeatedly put Kushner in the crosshairs of Mueller’s investigators over the nearly a year the special counsel’s office has been conducting its probe. By its terms, Mueller’s investigation is limited to Russian election interference, but it has returned indictments for entirely unrelated activities, while making no accusations at all about the willful “collusion” of any Americans in Russian efforts to influence American politics. It is reportedly Kushner’s urging to fire Comey that raised Mueller’s interest in him.
Ivanka, by contrast, has not been nearly as frequent a target of press speculation regarding Mueller’s interest. Nevertheless, her connection, along with her father and husband, to the scandal-ridden Deutsche Bank has been floated as a possible avenue of attack for Mueller.
Giuliani’s interview with Hannity and his vigorous defense of Ivanka Trump comes as he oversees a staff shakeup and a possible shift to a more aggressive strategy for Trump’s defense team.