Giuliani likens Clintons to crime family

HIAWATHA - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday compared Hillary Clinton to the crime families he prosecuted as an assistant deputy attorney general.

'This is actually too hard to believe that we are this close to having this criminal organization take over the White House because that's what Clinton Inc. is - a criminal organization,” Giuliani told about 75 people at a campaign stop at the Linn County GOP campaign headquarters in Hiawatha. 'This is a cesspool ... beyond Watergate.”

Earlier in the day, Giuliani, one of Trump's leading surrogates and a longtime friend, told members of the Westside Conservative Club in Urbandale the presidential race in Iowa 'is very close” and could help tip the balance for Trump's quest to be president if his supporters turn out in droves and bring others with them to the polls next Tuesday.

'If we win Iowa, I think we got it. If we win Iowa, I think Donald Trump's the next president and we kick Obama out and keep the crook out of the White House,” Giuliani said in Hiawatha where he was joined by Gov. Terry Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, Secretary of State Paul Pate and Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Giuliani lambasted Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as a 'criminal family” with scandals dating back to their days in Arkansas through their White House years and now with allegations of wrongdoing related to Hillary Clinton's mishandling of sensitive documents via her private email server and revelations about the Clinton foundation's financial dealings.

However, Hillary for America turned the question of who's fit to be president back on Trump.

'Whether it's cozying up to Vladimir Putin's Russia, not paying his taxes or demeaning women throughout his career and campaign, Donald Trump has shown Iowans who he is and that he is unfit to be president,” the Clinton campaign said in a statement.

During a question-and-answer session, Giuliani said he expects attempts at a November surprise with 'all kinds of bombs coming out of the Clinton campaign in the next couple of days against Donald Trump - most of them I hope are going to explode in their hands.” He also expects more developments about Clinton will be forthcoming from WikiLeaks and the FBI in the days before Tuesday's election.

'They're going to see it's a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of silly things in comparison to obstruction of justice, perjury, putting national security out there for people to see,” Giuliani said of the Clintons, adding in response to a questioner that 'I think if Clinton should get elected, I guarantee you in one year she'll be impeached and indicted. It's just going to happen. We're going to sort of vote for a Watergate.”

If Trump is elected, Giuliani said he believes the New York billionaire will bring his business experience to run the federal government honestly, efficiently and effectively while getting the economy growing by cutting taxes and regulations that stunt job growth, renegotiating bad trade deals and treaties and rebuilding the military to strengthen America's position in foreign affairs.

'He does not want to go to war. He has no desire to send American troops into harm's way. But, by the same token, he will not hesitate to do that if our country's national interests are at stake or our very, very good allies are under attack. There will be no hesitation and he'll keep them guessing, as opposed to saying there's no boots on the ground,” Giuliani said.

'Hillary Clinton is walking around trying to scare people about Donald Trump having his finger near the nuclear button,” he added. 'What she should be afraid of is having helped to put the nuclear button in the hands of the ayatollah (in Iran) who has killed thousands and thousands of people. That's what she should be worried about.”

Giuliani's campaign appearance came a few hours after the fatal shooting of two police officers less than 10 miles away. After a moment of silence, the former mayor said he did not want to politicize the tragedy but noted he did not understand 'the anger toward police” and lamented that violence is going 'up and up and up in this country.”

Giuliani noted that police killings are up 45 percent while citing recent shootings involving police officers around the country and pointing to incidents of gun violence in Chicago that he said exceeds rates in Afghanistan and Iraq.

'We're in a war zone and Chicago is the worst, but it's not alone,” he said.

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