Republican strategist Rick Tyler unleashed on President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani during a Thanksgiving appearance.
In an MSNBC panel discussion, host Alison Morris asked if Giuliani's excuses were believable -- namely that Giuliani was acting on his own accord, not at the direction of the president. Tyler flatly said "no."
"Look, since I'm the opinionator here, this is an arms for dirt deal -- it has been from the beginning," Tyler continued. "Anybody with a lick of common sense can see that. It was orchestrated by Rudy Colludy. You know, his going rate -- you have to work for free for the president because he either doesn't pay or you have to hire a lawyer to defend yourself, it will end up costing you money."
He went on to note that not even the Republicans aren't trying to contradict accusations that the president was demanding the announcement of an investigation to score the arms package Congress passed.
"But Rudy-Colludy is over there trying to dig up dirt on the Bidens, the president's chief political rival," Tyler continued. "No one disputes the facts on this. You don't even get the Republicans disputing exactly what happened on the phone call. it was an orchestrated campaign to put pressure on the Ukrainian president to conduct or at least announce that you were investigating a political rival, end of the story. That's what this is about. It is very simple to understand. It is arms for dirt."
As the president is backing away from Giuliani, saying that he was acting alone, it flies in the fact of documents released from the State Department showing Trump was in the loop through his White House assistant.
Legal analyst Katie Phang explained that the charges against Giuliani are serious ones, including mail fraud or wire fraud. She agreed that the federal investigators are likely trying to get Giuliani to flip on the president.
"Giuliani is tainted goods," Phang said. "Does he have information? He's such a bumbling fool there's no value add to what he does. The real turkey this year is Rudy Giuliani. We talk about hired guns, but he is a gun with blanks. The guy doesn't really deliver what he is supposed to do and he is desperate for money. And because of that, you know, he will be selling America to the highest bidder, and I guess at this point in time it was the Ukrainian government."
Giuliani has claimed he has "insurance" to protect himself, but he later claimed he was "joking."
Watch the full panel below:
