Back to back days with news about Bernard Kerik! Excelsior!
Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.
Kerik’s indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik’s extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet. Giuliani, the front-runner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination according to most polls, later called the recommendation a mistake.
Kerik rose from being a warden and police detective to become Giuliani’s campaign security adviser, corrections chief, police commissioner and eventual partner in Giuliani-Kerik, a security arm of Giuliani Partners, which Giuliani established after leaving office in 2001. Kerik resigned his positions in Giuliani’s firm after he was nominated to the homeland security job.
The former mayor is not in any legal jeopardy, according to legal sources directly familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the inquiry is ongoing. He and his consulting firm have cooperated in the FBI’s long-running investigation of Kerik.
Prosecutors are considering charging Kerik with “filing false information to the government,” tax code violations, and “conspiracy to commit illegal wiretapping” in connection to the 2006 New York attorney general race. Kerik has declined a plea agreement with the federal government that would have included jail time.
I’d forgotten that Kerik was not only Giuliani’s pick to be New York’s police commissioner and head the Department of Homeland Security, but his business partner as well. The fact that Giuliani and his consulting firm are cooperating with the FBI in this show the close proximity between Kerik’s malfeasance to Giuliani. Kerik’s activities make it harder for Giuliani to run a campaign around law and order issues — his number one officer had mob ties!
Republican strategist Nelson Warfield is quoted in the WaPo piece with an accurate summary of how Kerik hurts Giuliani, “Kerik has potential to undermine his image as a competent leader and someone best fit to fight terrorism…Either he had fundamentally bad information about Kerik, or he was reckless in not knowing enough about a man who was that close to him.”
As Kerik’s legal troubles continue to unfold, Giuliani is going to have to give a better explanation to the public of what he knew about Kerik and when he knew it.
Technorati Tags: Bernard Kerik, Rudy Giuliani
6 Responses to “Kerik May Face Felony Charges”
lets ask vince foster if hillary will make a good president….oops cant do that now can we…nice going hillary.
Two well known scumbags, hoping their conservanazi friends will throw money at them. Little did the adulterer know that he was in bed with a crook cop. Two scumbags makes a good story.
two scumbags? you mean clinton and foster? hillary and rich? moinca and roger? there are many more scumbags that the clintons have in their pocket, far more then two.
vote clinton in 08, cus no one knows how to ignore the threats of terror quite like bill and hill.
Excelsior means “ever upward”, the New York state motto.
It’s other meaning is
1. fine wood shavings, used for stuffing, packing, etc.Random House Unabridged Dictionary,
Something to say?
you would think kerik is running for president the way he is covered by the liberal media. any stories about mark rich and his long time friendship with hillary? didnt think so.
Left by matt
March 31, 2007 at 10:48am