Rudy Giuliani was 'praying' for the Medal of Freedom and a 'general pardon' from Donald Trump: book

20 August 2022

Embattled former New York City Mayor was hoping to be presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a "general pardon" from ex-President Donald Trump following the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol, according to excerpts from an upcoming book.

On Saturday, The New York Timespublished blurbs from an advanced copy of Giuliani: The Rise and Tragic Fall of America’s Mayorwhich was authored by journalist Andrew Kirtzman and is scheduled for release next month.

In it, Kirtzman recounted that during Giuliani's stint as Trump's personal defense counsel, Giuliani's then-legal assistant and current podcast co-host Maria Ryan had attempted to petition Trump to reward Giuliani with the nation's highest honor, grant him clemency for any potential crimes relating to January 6th, and compensate him for his representation.

“Dear Mr. President, I tried to call you yesterday to talk about business. The honorable Rudy Giuliani has worked 24/7 on the voter fraud issues. He has led a team of lawyers, data analysts and investigators," Ryan wrote on January 10th.

“He needs to be paid for his services,” Ryan continued. "As you know, he lost his job and income and more defending you during the Russia hoax investigation and then the impeachment pro bono.”

Ryan also stated in her memos to Trump that "Giuliani rarely asks for anything for himself. He is praying you present him with [the Medal of Freedom] this on Friday, January 15 or Monday the 19.” She added that Giuliani wanted a “general pardon.”

Correspondent Maggie Habermanexplained that while "Ryan had given an invoice to Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff," it along with her letters were intercepted by then-New York City Police Commissioner and Giuliani adviser Bernard B. Kerik and that they never actually reached Trump's desk.

Meanwhile, Giuliani's lawyer has maintained that his client had no knowledge of Ryan's actions.

“The mayor did not authorize or request the notes,” attorney Robert Costello said in an email to the Times. “The mayor has been consistent that he never asked for a pardon and told President Trump that if he was offered a pardon, he would decline it because he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Haberman noted, however, that when the paper had "reported that request to be paid, Mr. Giuliani denied that it had been made" and that "after the Times later reviewed a copy of the email and asked him about it, he said he did not know Ms. Ryan had sent it."

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