Lawrence O’Donnell took a closer look at one of the many serious allegations in a new lawsuit filed against Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and longtime henchman to Donald Trump.
It’s the claim by Noelle Dunphy, a former aide now suing Giuliani for alleged sexual coercion and other claims, that he told her he could arrange for pardons from Trump for $2 million, with himself and the then-president splitting the money.
O’Donnell noted that Bill Barr, who served as attorney general to Trump, gave a rather lukewarm response when asked if he thought that was possible.
“I’m skeptical about that, I don’t think Rudy Giuliani would do that, I hope he wouldn’t, but I don’t know,” Barr said on Fox News.
O’Donnell was stunned.
“I don’t know?” he said. “William Barr knows Rudolph Giuliani well. William Barr knows Donald Trump well. And when asked if those two could have teamed up to sell $2 million pardons and split the money, William Barr’s answer is, ‘I don’t know.’”
O’Donnell said any attorney general not appointed by Trump or Richard Nixon would’ve given “a very, very strong answer.”
But Barr didn’t ― and O’Donnell found that extremely telling, as he explained on “The Last Word” on Wednesday night: