About
Bernard Kerik was the police commissioner of New York City during the 9/11 attacks and is a staunch ally of Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor at the time. After the 2020 presidential election, he got involved with helping Giuliani and Trump overturn the results, serving as lead investigator for the legal team.
Earlier in his career, Kerik had trained U.S. Special Forces soldiers in unconventional warfare tactics and between 2002 and 2005, he served on the boards of companies such as Camelbak, MedAire, and TASER International as well as advising BMW on its armored cars.
In 2009, Kerik pled guilty to eight federal felony charges and was later sentenced to a four-year prison term. He had a quid pro quo arrangement with the Mafia and accepted gifts from companies aiming to sign contracts with the city. When Trump pardoned Kerik for federal convictions before he left office in 2021, The Daily Beast quipped, “All Kerik did was lie, evade taxes, consort with organized-crime types, use public office to seek financial reward, make false statements to banks, gin up charitable contributions, and obstruct justice.”
January 6, 2021
- The House Select Committee investigating the insurrection subpoenaed Kerik in conjunction with his participation in planning and strategizing sessions that took place at the Willard Hotel.
- In late December 2021, Kerik provided a number of documents to the House Select Committee, but also submitted a “privilege log” listing the documents he did not turn over. That includes “action plans” sent to Kerik by Maria Ryan, Rudy Giuliani’s girlfriend and associate.
- One of the documents Kerik claims is covered by attorney-client privilege is titled: “DRAFT LETTER FROM POTUS TO SEIZE EVIDENCE IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL SECURITY FOR THE 2020 ELECTIONS.” This document could provide proof that Trump was involved in plotting the attempted coup. The letter is thought to have been drafted on December 17, the day before Trump met with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and other advisors and discussed seizing voting machines in states he had lost.
The Big Lie
- Immediately after the 2020 election, Kerik joined Rudy Guiliani’s legal team to investigate allegations of voter fraud for the Trump campaign.
- On Dec. 1, Kerik texted Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows asking for a credit card to pay for accommodations and vehicles for him and others who traveled from Arizona to Michigan as part of this mission.
- One of the documents Kerik shared with the House Select Committee is a “strategic communications plan” for the 10 days preceding congressional certification of the Electoral College count on Jan. 6. The plan calls for using radio and TV ads to “flood the local airways in AZ, GA, MI, NV, PA, WI” and also lists protest actions to organize a social media strategy with “allies” such as members of the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right group of congressional Republicans.
- On Nov. 12, Ryan forwarded Kerik an email from QAnon conspiracy theorist Ron Watkins stating that he had found weak points in the Dominion Voting Systems machines that “bad actors could potentially use for fraud.”