Donald Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, told NBC’s Chuck Todd something quite extraordinary a few days ago. On Meet the Press this Sunday, Giuliani said to a stunned Todd, “Truth isn’t truth.”
Upping the ante on Kellyanne Conway’s infamous “alternative facts” comment, Giuliani doubled down on his Orwellian pronouncement the following day by tweeting: “My statement was not meant as a pontification on moral theology but one referring to the situation where two people make precisely contradictory statements, the classic ‘he said, she said’ puzzle.”
As crazy as it sounds, Giuliani’s statement does have some merit when it comes to political speech or when referring to some news outlets. The truth can be malleable.
As we found out yesteray, however, the truth is still the truth in a court of law. The bulwark of our democracy, our legal system, works.
A jury in Virginia convicted Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, on eight felony counts of bank fraud and tax evasion. At about the same time, in a New York court, Trump’s legal fixer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance violations, tax and bank fraud.
It didn’t matter what lies or fakery Manafort and Cohen engaged in prior to their day in court, once they stood in front of the man in the black robe, all the BS, the spin, the mangling of facts, ended.
It is said that justice is based on truth. Truth, in the law, means objective, reliable facts that can be admitted as evidence in a trial.
With what Cohen admitted to yesterday under oath, namely that Donald Trump directed him to violate campaign finance laws, it won’t be long before all of Trump’s claims of innocence, of “witch hunt”, of “no collusion”, will be put to the test … hopefully at an upcoming trial in the United States Senate after the House approves articles of impeachment.
Hey Rudy, when two people make contradictory statements, you know, the old he, said she said … one is telling the truth, one is lying.
Photo | nypost.com