Guiliani Skirts Mistress Security Questions

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press, Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani stammered his way through questions about taxpayer funded security for his (then) mistress, Judith Nathan. Guiliani contends security was appropriate based on threats. However, their relationship did not become public until May of 2000. Security detail was being used as early as the summer of 1999 according to the New York Daily News. Russert never asked whether it was responsible handling of public money and law enforcement to conduct a life in such a way that police are diverted from their jobs to become valets and shopping companions for a mayor’s mistress. Here’s the MTP transcript below. I’ve bolded the portion of Guiliani’s answer where he dodges and obfuscates his response. Guiliani purports he was only following the recommendation of the NYPD.
MR. RUSSERT: Also has been questioned, criticisms about your security details for your then-girlfriend Judi Nathan. Here’s a photograph of her walking her dog being escorted by a New York City policeman. This headline in the Daily News now with “New questions over” “security” details “for Rudy’s girlfriend, driving Miss Judi.” Bernard Kerik had said that there had been no police protecting Miss Nathan until December 2000. Now your folks have told the Daily News that, in fact, there was some security before that date. Why was it appropriate for you to give…

MR. GIULIANI: I…

MR. RUSSERT: …taxpayer-funded security to your girlfriend?

MR. GIULIANI: Well, Tim, for many years, I’ve had to live with security.

MR. RUSSERT: This is not for you. This is for her.

MR. GIULIANI: Well, well, this is—let, let me explain because it has something to—it all has to do with me. All of this came about because of me, and all of it came about because of the work that I did. I’ve had security on and off for over 20 years. It’s not something I asked for, it’s not something you particularly want, it’s not something she would want. This comes about because of threats, and people threaten to kill you , people threaten to harm you. I had these threats back when I was the United States attorney. There was a revelation in court of one that had been secret for a long time. I don’t, I don’t talk, talk about them. I’m—this is a part of my profession also, evaluating threats. And the reality is that my family has been subjected to threats, my loved ones have been subjected to threats, my assistants have been subjected to threats. When they happen, I have—I handle them in a professional way. If they’re threats about other people, I’ll make the evaluation of it. If it’s a threat about me or somebody I love or somebody that’s close to me, I turn it over to professionals to evaluate. I’ve, I’ve been fortunate to have very good professionals that have taken care of these threats for me, for my family and for my loved ones—United States marshals, when I was United States attorney, the New York City Police Department. Every single thing done here was done based upon the assessment of someone else that this was necessary. They made the choice. My wife, Judith, honestly, would prefer not to have to have security.

MR. RUSSERT: But let me ask you…

MR. GIULIANI: She doesn’t want to—she’s doesn’t want to live with, with these threats.

MR. RUSSERT: But this, this was when, this was when no one knew she was your girlfriend. This was before September 11^th, 2001. There were—no one knew who she was.

MR. GIULIANI: They were—well, first of all, that isn’t correct. Secondly, these were all based upon threat assessments made by the New York City Police Department, and all based on their analysis of what was necessary to protect her life, my life, other people’s lives.

MR. RUSSERT: Before it was known that you were even dating her, there were threats against her?

MR. GIULIANI: The threats were—the threats were after. The threats were after.

MR. RUSSERT: But this protection was…

MR. GIULIANI: No it wasn’t. You got it all—no, it wasn’t.

MR. RUSSERT: Bernard Kerik, police commissioner, said there was no protection given before December 2000, and that is not a true statement.

MR. GIULIANI: No, but, Tim, our, our relationship became public in May of 2000. So when he said before 2000 is a whole big portion of 2000 where our relationship was public, there were threats, they had to be responded to. The police department did every single thing that was done for Judith, or for me, or for anybody else close to me, was based upon threat assessments made by other people who are professionals here, and they’ve made it very clear that that, that that’s the case. And this is beyond any doubt the way it was done.

MR. RUSSERT: Using that reasoning, would it be appropriate for a president to provide Secret Service protection for his mistress?

MR. GIULIANI: It would not be appropriate to, to do it for that reason, Tim, and that isn’t, that, that isn’t the right way to—you know, that isn’t the right way to, to analyze it or to say this. The reason it’s done is because somebody threatens to do harm, and the people who assess it come to the conclusion that it is necessary to do this. The reality is that it all came about because of my public position, because of the fact that when people are public or celebrities these kinds of threats take place. And the New York City Police Department has rules; they applied the rules, they applied them in exactly the same way as they always apply them. I did not make the judgment. I didn’t ask for it. Judith didn’t particularly want it, but it was done because they took the view that it was serious and it had to be done this way. And it was done the way they wanted to do it.