If the negotiations over a voluntary interview fail, as now seems likely, Mueller may decide to subpoena the President. Giuliani has weighed in on the legality of Presidential subpoenas in the past. In 1997, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled that President Clinton was legally obligated to submit to a deposition in Paula Jones’s sexual-harassment case against him. As the special prosecutor Kenneth Starr’s investigation of Clinton intensified, the following year, Charlie Rose put the question to Giuliani in an interview: Would the President have to obey a grand-jury subpoena for his testimony? “He’s gotta do it. He doesn’t have a choice,” Giuliani responded. “Under the criminal law, everyone should be treated the same.” He added, “As far as the criminal law is concerned, the President is a citizen.”

Then as now, Giuliani’s answer reflected the conventional wisdom. The courts had determined that a President could be required to testify in civil cases such as the Jones case and would likely come to the same conclusion about criminal investigations, which are generally viewed as having greater societal import. But after Giuliani became Trump’s lawyer he began arguing that the pressing duties of the Presidency rendered him immune from a subpoena. When journalists confronted Giuliani with his statement from 1998, he didn’t say that he had changed his mind or that his earlier position was incorrect. Instead, he claimed that his statements were about documents rather than Presidential testimony, despite clear video evidence to the contrary.

Even if the question of Presidential testimony is resolved, Giuliani’s attacks on the investigation are likely to continue. Mueller will file a concluding report with Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General, at the end of the investigation, and, in theory, Rosenstein has the option of releasing the report to Congress and to the public. But Giuliani pointed out a little-known aspect of the agreement that Trump’s original legal team struck with Mueller: the White House reserved the right to object to the public disclosure of information that might be covered by executive privilege. I asked Giuliani if he thought the White House would raise objections. “I’m sure we will,” he said, adding that the President would make the final call. In other words, the conclusion of the special counsel’s investigation could be the beginning of a contentious fight over whether Rosenstein is allowed to release a complete version of Mueller’s report.

Giuliani’s team is also preëmptively preparing a report to be released at the same time as Mueller’s, to refute its expected findings. Giuliani said that this “counter-report” is already forty-five pages and will likely grow, adding, “It needs a five-page summary—for me.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/10/how-rudy-giuliani-turned-into-trumps-clown