Republican Senators Recoiling From Toxic Giuliani

The one person perhaps most responsible for leading world- class moron Donald "The Dumb Don" Trump into the Ukraine thicket and, hence, to his impeachment is his personal consigliere Rudy "You Have A Fool For A Lawyer" Giuliani (um, thank you?).  The very public spectacle of a clearly diminished, if not psychotic, Giuliani fumbling around Ukraine in his latest effort to "prove" it was Ukraine that meddled in the 2016 election, not Russia, has Trump's enablers in the Senate rattled.  The on- going criminal investigation involving indicted Giuliani associates and Russian bag men Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman (and soon Giuliani?) is also giving pause to reptilian Republicans looking for mud to sling during an impeachment trial.

Earlier in December, Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham, a thing with no discernible scruples, called on Giuliani to testify on his conspiracy theories "findings" concerning the dealings of the Bidens in Ukraine, ignoring ample evidence that there was no there there.  Now, however, as Giuliani's mania has become more outrageous and his ties to Russian cut- outs more obvious, Huckleberry and other Republican rats in the Senate don't want to be within smelling distance of him:

As senators prep for the impeachment trial they are distancing themselves, now publicly, from Giuliani in an attempt to steer clear of his less-than-reliable associates in Kyiv.

“Rudy Giuliani long ago lost any shred of credibility, especially after the dossier he assembled for the State Department stunningly mirrored Russian propaganda,” Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) told The Daily Beast. “Knowing that, anyone that attempts to defend President Trump’s behavior by citing Rudy’s information over our own intelligence agencies is simply irresponsible, uninformed or willing to be that useful idiot the Kremlin desires.”  [snip]

“I wouldn’t trust Rudy to represent me in a parking dispute so I’d say avoid,” a senior GOP Senate aide said tersely when asked if it was a good idea for Republican senators to meet with Giuliani to get a Ukraine briefing. Another top aide in a different Republican office said their senator had informed staff that they had “no interest at all” in meeting with Giuliani on this, fearing it would amount to a “waste of time,” if not something worse.

Huckleberry, observing that Giuliani's trip to Ukraine was studded with meetings with former pro- Russian prosecutors and a KGB- trained legislator, perhaps sees the danger of having a self- interested lunatic testifying and going off like a, um, "hand grenade" in a public hearing.  So, now he wants the intelligence community to do the job of deep- sixing Giuliani's fever dreams:

“He has not shared any of that information with me,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) about the information Giuliani obtained overseas. “My advice to Giuliani would be to share what he got from Ukraine with the IC [intelligence community] to make sure it’s not Russia propaganda. I’m very suspicious of what the Russians are up to all over the world.”

Now he's suspicious.  How convenient.

(Meanwhile, in the "you can't make this stuff up" category, Giuliani has a "director of communications" and traveling companion who's 20- year- old college student and vigorous résumé- padder named Christianné Allen.  If you haven't read this Politico article about Giuliani's grifting alter ego, please do so.  The saying "Birds of a feather flock together" was never more true.)

BONUS:  If you haven't already checked it out, Olivia Nuzzi has a revealing article about her recent conversation with a dotty, Bloody Mary- swilling Giuliani.  Yikes!

(Photo:  Giuliani meeting with Alexiy Derkach, graduate of KGB academy and pro- Russian Ukrainian lawmaker, in Kiev December 5.)