Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday he is planning to vote for Donald Trump and will do whatever he can to help his fellow New Yorker — except endorse him.
“I’m voting for him, I’ll do whatever they would like me to do, but I’m not part of the campaign apparatus, I don’t speak for the campaign,” Giuliani told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on “New Day.” “When I endorse somebody, I join their campaign. I join their campaign staff. Their campaign staff sends me out to do speeches, to do things like that. Donald’s a very, very good friend, I believe he’d be the best candidate. I think he’d be the person I would like to see win.”
Asked if he had concerns about the campaign, he said “sure.” Giuliani said he agreed with Trump on “eight out of 10 positions, and that’s probably good enough for me. That’s what I agreed with Ronald Reagan on, and he was my hero. But I have a couple of concerns on immigration. There are things I’d have to talk out first as far as an endorsement.”
Giuliani continued that he didn’t know Trump’s campaign staff.
“I don’t know who they are,” he said. Asked why he wasn’t endorsing Trump, similar to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Giuliani repeated it was “because I don’t know his campaign staff, maybe Christie does.”
Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor for New York, also cautioned campaigns against flatly trying to buy the support of delegates at the convention this summer.
“You gotta be really careful. They should probably get me or an assistant U.S. attorney to come in and lecture them on what you can and can’t do,” Giuliani said. “You can’t offer anything of value in return for a vote. This is not just a private club, you’re getting a nomination to a federal office.”
Giuliani also said direct quid pro quos, offers of plane rides or political appointments, in return for a vote are also barred.
“There better not be a discussion, you shake hands and say ‘You got my private plane and I got your vote,'” he said.
