The NYPD’s former top cop Bernie Kerik met Monday with federal investigators probing former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and the involvement of Rudy Giuliani in the purported conspiracy.
Kerik — a longtime Trump-ally and NYPD commissioner during part of Giuliani’s tenure as NYC mayor — met with investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, DC for roughly five hours, according to his lawyer.
“It was mostly about, you know, all the efforts in between the election and January 6 of what the Giuliani team was doing,” Kerik’s lawyer Timothy Parlatore told CNN on Monday.
“And really just going through all of the efforts that they took at the time to take all the complaints of fraud, see what they could do to chase them, and really kind of establishing that at that time, you know, while they weren’t able to necessarily establish proof, they had probable cause and they were pursuing the investigation in good faith.”
The meeting marks the first public sign of activity by Smith’s team since handing down a 4-count indictment against Trump, 77, last week related to the 2020 election aftermath and the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol Building.
The indictment charged the 45th president with conspiracy to defraud the US government, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
Giuliani is believed to be one of the six co-conspirators referenced in Smith’s indictment who allegedly plotted with Trump for months to knowingly spread lies of widespread election fraud after Joe Biden’s victory.
“Co-conspirator 1, an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not,” the 45-page indictment says of the individual believed to be Giuliani.
Parlatore said Monday that he believes Giuliani will not be charged by Smith in part because of what Kerik told investigators during questioning.
“One of the things that Mr. Kerik made clear today is that he and Mr. Giuliani and that whole team, they were chasing these claims, they were limited by their time and resources, but ultimately, the idea that Rudy Giuliani was intentionally pushing, you know, claims that he knew were false is not something supported by the evidence,” he told CNN.
Giuliani has also denied any wrongdoing.
Kerik, who was released from prison in 2013 after serving three years for tax fraud and other financial crimes, was pardoned by Trump in 2020.
Trump surrendered to law enforcement in Washington, DC, last week and pleaded not guilty to all charges in Smith’s indictment, the former president’s third criminal indictment since leaving office.
