A former aide to ex-Trump lawyer Rudolph Giuliani says he told her about the former New York mayor and then-President Donald Trump offered to sell the presidential election forgivenesses for $2 million each, according to court documents.
The bombshell allegation was made in a complaint against Mr. Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations expert who is suing him for “illegal abuse of power, widespread sexual assault and harassment, wage theft and other misconduct” engaged in while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020.
The lawsuit also alleges she was subjected to sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other wrongdoing by Giuliani, alleging she was forced to perform sexual acts on him and work naked.
Duphy’s lawsuit details an interaction she allegedly had with Giuliani on February 16, 2019, when he was serving as Trump’s personal attorney and trying to dig up foreign dirt on then-former Vice President Joe Biden, who was two at the time. months away from entering the 2020 presidential race against Trump.
She writes that when they reviewed emails between him and Ukrainian government officials, she asked if he had to register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act and offered to do the necessary paperwork for him.
The former mayor responded that he was allowed to violate Fara and other U.S. laws because “(he had) immunity,” according to the lawsuit.
She then states that Mr. Giuliani asked her “if she knew anyone who needed a pardon” because he was “selling $2 million worth of pardons, which he and President Trump would share.”
“He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, as long as they did not go through ‘the normal channels’ of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, as correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act,” the lawsuit added.
During Trump’s presidency, he often granted pardons to wealthy or well-connected individuals without the involvement of the Pardon Attorney, the Justice Department official tasked with reviewing petitions for executive clemency and making recommendations on whether a given petition should be granted.
No evidence has ever emerged that Trump or Giuliani were ever compensated for any presidential pardon granted during Trump’s time in office, but Dunphy’s allegations are consistent with another person who once sought a pardon from the then-president.
In August, The New York Times reported that former CIA officer John Kiriakou raised the topic with Giuliani during a meeting at the Washington DC hotel that Trump’s company held between 2016 and 2022.
Kiriakou, who was sentenced in 2012 to nearly three years in prison for disclosing classified information, told Times that one of Mr. Giuliani’s associates said at the meeting that the former New York mayor could help him — for a price.
“It’s going to cost $2 million — he’s going to want two million dollars,” he recalled the Giuliani aide saying.
He also told Times that he did not seek clemency through Mr. Giuliani because he could not afford to pay him $2 million.
“I laughed. Two million dollars—are you crazy?” Kiriakou told the outlet, “Even if I had two million dollars, I wouldn’t spend it to get back a $700,000 pension,” he said.
Ted Goodman, a spokesman for and adviser to Giuliani, said The independent in an email that the former New York City mayor “unequivocally denies the allegations made by Dunphy.”
“Mayor Giuliani’s lifetime of public service speaks for itself and he will pursue all available legal remedies and counterclaims,” he added.
The independent has reached out to Trump’s team for comment.
[pub1]