The real fake news

The revelations in newly released Justice Department documents show how Donald Trump’s inner circle regarded public dishonesty as smart strategy and nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s OK, as Rudy Giuliani put it, to “throw a fake.” What an interesting philosophy from the political camp that popularized the phrase “fake news” to attack factual reporting in mainstream journalism.

Lying to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and others in the media isn’t illegal, but lying to federal agents is. Which may explain why Giuliani pulled back on a self-serving lie when the agents interviewed him.

He didn’t get any inside information, he told them, though he’d teased that lie in interviews at the time. He casually admitted lying to Blitzer— and in the process to America—about having met with FBI sources “eight to 10 months” earlier.

“Yeah, I mean I just picked a number out of the air,” Giuliani told the agents. Earlier in the same interview, Giuliani’s then-law partner and counselor Marc Mukasey opined, “You’re under no obligation to tell the truth” while campaigning for a candidate.

Giuliani would again demonstrate that twisted philosophy after last year’s election. In multiple news conferences and court hearings, he alleged with zero evidence that Trump’s loss was the result of rampant fraud, helping motivate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Among the lies he promoted was an unhinged conspiracy theory alleging that Dominion Voting Systems changed votes to swing the election. There’s no evidence of this whatsoever; even Giuliani isn’t currently claiming there is.

Dominion is suing Giuliani and others for $3 billion. An appellate court in June suspended him from practicing law in New York for his promotion of demonstrably false election-fraud lies. Full disbarment remains a hopeful possibility. The legal profession and the nation have had enough of this man’s fake news.