Marc Mukasey, the son of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, has been tasked by Rudy Giuliani to “to keep an eye on” former NYPD police commissioner Bernard Kerik’s criminal investigation.
Earlier this month, media reports said that federal prosecutors were prepared to file charges against Kerik “that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice.” Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, pleaded guilty last year to two misdemeanor charges of taking payments from the same company that is alleged to have bribed him.
Publicly, Giuliani has offered a strong defense of Kerik, recently calling him an “excellent police commissioner” and praising him for being “heroic” on 9/11. But privately, the Giuliani team is attempting to whitewash their ties with Kerik. The New York Post reports that part of Marc Mukasey’s “sensitive assignment” has been to thwart Kerik’s lawyer from interviewing witnesses who might help his defense because those witnesses are “linked to Giuliani”:
A source familiar with the Kerik probe said Mukasey’s role in monitoring the Kerik case is “obviously trying to distance Giuliani from all [the allegations about Kerik], although obviously it all occurred on Giuliani’s watch.” […]
A source said Mukasey has “made it impossible” for [Kerik’s lawyer] “to interview witnesses” who work at Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm founded in 2002 by the former mayor after he left office. Kerik had been a key player in Giuliani Partners before his fall from grace.
Mukasey is “basically shutting them down,” the source said.
Marc Mukasey is currently a partner at Giuliani’s law firm where is a leader of the firm’s “Special Investigations” practice. His father, Judge Michael Mukasey, has called Giuliani a “good friend” and has pledged to recuse himself from all cases that might involve the former NYC mayor.