Rudy Giuliani: Next secretary of state?

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is tapped to be nominated secretary of state by President-elect Donald Trump.

Giuliani guided New York through its darkest days after 9/11 as the Big Apple's mayor with his signature tough-guy style, but he hasn't held office in 15 years, nor has he held a government position in foreign policy.

Now, the man once known as "America's Mayor" is reportedly atop the list of hopefuls to be the country's next secretary of state, in what would be a stunning political comeback to reward his loyalty to Trump during a brutal presidential campaign.

Giuliani, 72, is often lauded by his supporters for his resolve during the aftermath of the worst attack on US soil, when he assured the devastated city. But his detractors often criticise him for his tough stance on petty crimes, kicking the homeless off the streets and implementing a controversial stop-and-frisk policy that targeted African-Americans.

The image of a tough-talking, never-say-die champion of ordinary New Yorkers was one Giuliani first cultivated as a crime-fighting former federal prosecutor, dealing blows to the mob in the 1980s.

When Trump - himself a life-long New Yorker - announced his bid for the US presidency, Giuliani immediately teamed up with the Manhattan property mogul.

That loyalty is now on the verge of being rewarded - with a top cabinet spot at the State Department, or perhaps elsewhere.

During the campaign, he was a top surrogate for Trump, appearing often on news programmes to get out the Republican's message. But he also raised hackles with his sometimes incendiary comments about Democrats.

When it comes to foreign policy, Giuliani is a staunch supporter of Israel, a hardliner towards the use of torture, and a critic of the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama.

"Rather than capturing people because Obama didn't want to fill up Guantanamo, he used drones to kill them," he said at the forum in Washington. "I also can't figure out for the life of me what's more humane - waterboarding or killing somebody with a drone."

On Israel and Palestine

On the Israeli/Palestinian front, he said, “I’ve talked to the members of the Israeli government at the highest levels. I know who they want elected here. It’s not Hillary Clinton. It’s not Obama 3.”

“They [Israelis] are politically aware enough to know that if Hillary gets elected, she is going to go further to her left, to protect her left flank against Elizabeth Warren,” Giuliani said. “They know she’s going to start the two-state solution thing again, cave in to the Palestinians. They realise Donald Trump can say 'Islamic terrorism', can stand up to it. So there’s no question he would be better for the state of Israel than Hillary.”

“I’ve known Bibi (Netanyahu) almost as long as I’ve known Donald, 25 years,” Giuliani said. “I can’t speak for Bibi … But there is no question Donald Trump and a Republican administration would be much better for Israel,” Giuliani added.

In 1995, Giuliani expelled then-Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat from a New York concert on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"I would not invite Yasser Arafat to anything, anywhere, anytime, anyplace. I don't forget," Giuliani said after the incident, rebuking criticism from the White House.

On Iran nuclear deal and Russia

On the multilateral Iran nuclear agreement, Giuliani voiced relentless opposition to the deal.  

“To defeat Islamic extremist terrorism we must put them on defence,” said Giuliani at the Republican National Convention.

“This includes undoing one of the worst deals America ever made – Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran that will eventually let them become a nuclear power and put billions of dollars back into a country that the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism.”

At a Washington event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal, Giuliani suggested this week that Russia can be contained if threatened militarily.

"Russia thinks it’s a military competitor. It really isn’t. If you compare the size of our military and theirs, it’s our unwillingness under Obama to even threaten the use of our military that makes Russia so powerful."

On the Islamic State group

Giuliani says defeating the Islamic State group should be a priority for the US.

"ISIS, short-term I believe, is the greatest danger and not because ISIS is in Iraq and in Syria, but because ISIS did something al-Qaeda never did - ISIS was able to spread itself around the world," he said.

Guiliani said in a speech in July that Syrian refugees are "going to come here and kill us".

When he was mayor of New York, Guiliani started a mass surveillance programme against the city’s Muslims. The NY Police Department Unit that spied on Muslim social gatherings and houses of worship was not dropped until 2014.

"I was the mayor who put police officers in mosques, in New York and New Jersey," he bragged in July.

Born on 28 May 1944 in East Flatbush to first-generation Americans, Giuliani is the consummate New Yorker. He studied philosophy and law in the city, earning degrees from Manhattan College and New York University's law school.