Rudy Giuliani's devotion has escorted Trump straight to impeachment

"Step by step, [Rudy Giuliani] has escorted President Trump to the brink of impeachment," The New York Times said in a piece following the president's top lawyer and his impact on the scandals facing the 45th president.

Two associates of Giuliani's have already been indicted, Giuliani is under criminal investigation from federal prosecutors, and he was never graced with a top position in the Trump government.

"The separate troubles he has gotten his client and himself into are products of the uniquely powerful position he has fashioned, a hybrid of unpaid personal counsel to the president and for-profit peddler of access and advice," The Times said Sunday.

"A dozen witnesses testified over five days, and if Mr. Giuliani were somehow subtracted from their stories, there seems to be no one in or out of government who could take his place as the president’s man on the ground," said The Times. "No one to carry out a campaign to force a vulnerable ally, Ukraine, to damage a political opponent of Mr. Trump and undermine a special counsel investigation in ways that would help both Mr. Trump and an ally now in prison for laundering millions of dollars."

In the impeachment investigation of President Richard Nixon, the phrase "follow the money" was the key path that led to the president. In Trump's case, it seems to be "follow the Rudy."

"Each modern impeachment saga — of Richard M. Nixon, Bill Clinton and now Mr. Trump — has been shaped not by grievances over policy differences, but by human vanities and appetites. In this case, those include Mr. Giuliani’s, which have run in strong currents for decades, unconcealed," The Times continued.

“He doesn’t just like the spotlight,” said ex-wife Judith Giuliani. “He craves it for validation.”

She said she wasn't surprised to see Giuliani working for Trump because he has a disdain for former President Bill Clinton.

Even the "old Rudy" is being taken over by the man today's Giuliani wants to be.

The Times reported that associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who've been indicted and arrested, were at Giuliani's annual dinner he gives for those who came together after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"Other guests were perplexed by the men’s presence. Had they been at Ground Zero in 2001? No, they had not. They were part not of Mr. Giuliani’s past but of his wished-for future," said The Times.

During the 2016 campaign, Giuliani was like a tornado, knocking down anyone who got in his way.

“He’d do an event with then-candidate Trump, and then he’d speak at a different event with Pence and then do one on his own,” The Times quoted David Bossie, the deputy campaign manager.

When the "Access Hollywood" tape was released showing Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, his campaign surrogates dropped their scheduled appearances. Giuliani, however, rushed to Trump's aid.

“Rudy was the only person willing to go on television to defend Donald Trump,” Bossie recalled.

While the president's inner circle, and his children, have urged cutting Giuliani lose, Trump hasn't quite yet.

"The story, then, is being left to the people who survived being buried alive by Mr. Giuliani, including the cashiered Ambassador [Marie] Yovanovitch," said The Times, quoting her House Intelligence Committee testimony.

“How is it that foreign corrupt interests could manipulate our government?” she asked.

Giuliani thinks he'll ultimately be vindicated, regardless of his methods and tactics.

“These morons,” Mr. Giuliani told the Atlantic in an interview. “When this is over, I will be the hero.”

Read the extensive profile at The New York Times.