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Big, bad Bernard Kerik wants to bunk with the regular Joes -- even if they're accused killers, rapists and muggers. The disgraced former city police commissioner yesterday refused to ask to be separated from the general population as he spent his first full day in the Westchester County jail. He's been accused of trying to taint the jury pool in his upcoming federal corruption case. So jail officials made the decision for him -- and hauled him anyway into a segregated wing reserved for cops, judges and other at-risk inmates. Kerik once was also head of the city's jails, and...

Rudy Panic set in for many Republicans this week, with conservative leaders both nationally and in Iowa concluding they need to settle on a single champion to prevent Rudolph W. Giuliani from winning the GOP presidential nomination. They fear that victory by the socially liberal former New York mayor could permanently shatter the largely successful coalition of social, religious, economic and national defense conservatives that, more often than not, has worked electoral magic for Republican candidates at all levels. "The main driving force behind all of that is a belief that Rudy Giuliani is positioned to win the nomination and...

Among the top tier Republican candidates, Rush says that only Fred has been a consistent conservative. You have been given your marching orders. Now you know who to vote for. RUSH: …the genuine moderate as opposed to conservative aspects of three of the top-tier, four of the top-tier candidates were on full-fledged display last night. There was one candidate who did not display any moderateness or liberalism or have any of his past forays into those areas displayed, and that candidate was Fred Thompson. … …we have a campaign now where most of the candidates are not genuine conservatives. They...

In 1973, a 29-year-old federal prosecutor named Rudy Giuliani indicted a Brooklyn congressman, unknowingly creating a political opening for an ambitious 23-year-old named Chuck Schumer. It is the first and least known link between two powerful New York politicians whose paths have crossed and careers intersected in often surprising ways over the past four decades. But it certainly wasn't the last. Just two weeks ago, Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) found himself defying his own party to confirm U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey, a retired Manhattan judge and close friend of the former mayor. Schumer and Giuliani may seem an odd pairing,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former New York police commissioner and Rudy Giuliani protege Bernard Kerik was indicted on federal tax fraud and corruption charges related to his personal finance and business dealings, the U.S. attorney said on Friday. The 14-count indictment, which could pose an embarrassment to front-runner Giuliani as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, stem in part from Kerik's receiving $255,000 worth of renovations to his apartment from a construction firm suspected of ties organized crime that was attempting to win city contracts. Kerik pleaded guilty last year to state charges over the home remodeling, but the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rudy Giuliani assured a conservative legal group Friday that if elected president he would appoint federal judges who adhere to their principles. He also praised a judge who declared the capital city's gun ban unconstitutional and ridiculed efforts to eliminate the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. In a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Federalist Society, Giuliani spelled out a conservative legal agenda in which he cited Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts as models for the judges he would appoint to the federal...

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004. The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.

Bernard Kerik's indictment on federal corruption charges last week left unanswered a nagging question from longtime Kerik-watchers: What, exactly, became of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a city-created foundation, of which Kerik - Rudy Giuliani's friend, protege and appointee - was listed as president in the days when he ran the city jails? The answer could be explosive. Or it could be innocuous. The point is that we still do not know. In 2004, a former deputy commissioner, Fred Patrick, was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to defrauding the foundation of more than $137,000 - purportedly for...

WASHINGTON — Mayor Giuliani's hold on the front-runner's perch in the Republican presidential nomination is eroding, with two new polls showing that Mitt Romney is opening up a widening lead in New Hampshire, site of the first primary. While Mr. Giuliani has maintained his lead in national polls and in several state surveys, the former Massachusetts governor is now comfortably ahead in both Iowa and New Hampshire, two hotly contested early-voting states that have traditionally played a crucial role in determining the Republican nominee. Mr. Romney opened up a 12-point lead over Mr. Giuliani in New Hampshire, 32% to 20%,...

Just two days ago, Gail Collins christened her column about the Pat Robertson endorsement "Pat Loves Rudy." As I observed then, "a conservative columnist writing the equivalent might well be condemned for making an unsubtle appeal to homophobia. But Collins will surely get a pass in PC quarters, since it's a well-established fact that liberals are incapable of prejudice." Then comes today's Collins column, and I'll be darned if she hasn't done it again. The NY Times columnist has entitled her piece about the Kerik indictment and related matters "Rudy and Bernie: B.F.F.’s" ["Best Friends Forever," for those no longer...

We are all fallen, imperfect beings. The news of the federal indictment of Bernie Kerik is a sad moment, a cautionary tale, and an object lesson. Sad, because Kerik rose from the child of a prostitute to “America’s cop”–and this nation loves such tales of success. Cautionary, because it speaks to the fallibility of anointed heroes and the temptations of power. An object lesson, because it highlights the flaws and vulnerabilities of GOP front-runner Rudy Giuliani’s on the issues of corruption and immigration enforcement. Here’s what I wrote back in December 2004 when Kerik was forced to withdraw from consideration...

Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign is increasingly concerned that the controversy swirling around former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik could negatively impact his White House aspirations. Kerik pleaded guilty in 2006 to state conflict-of-interest charges for accepting $165,000 in gifts from an allegedly mob-linked construction firm. He currently faces a possible indictment from the U.S. attorney’s office for tax crimes and other offenses stemming from renovations to his Bronx apartment from the firm Interstate Industrial Corp., while he was corrections commissioner under then New York City Mayor Giuliani. Giuliani’s law partner Marc Mukasey has now been told to monitor...

This is not the way it was supposed to be for Rudy Giuliani, who was supposed to turn a presidential campaign into just another one of his big-ticket speaking engagements, his Republican audience hanging on every word like he was standing there at Ground Zero all over again. He was going to win the nomination with one answer, no matter what the question was, whether it was about abortion or Iraq or the price of gasoline: "September 11." It does not turn out to be that simple, even when Giuliani reluctantly strays from his theme of having saved New York...

We've got some real challenges facing us. FR was established to fight against government corruption, overstepping, and abuse and to fight for a return to the limited constitutional government as envisioned and set forth by our founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and other founding documents. One of the biggest cases of government corruption, overstepping and abuse that I know of is its disgraceful headlong slide into a socialist hell. Our founders never intended for abortion to be the law of the land. And they never intended the Supreme Court to be a legislative body. They...

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON — Plenty of people — politicians included — have skeletons in their closets. In the case of presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, that closet is a walk-in. The former Republican mayor of New York City won widespread praise for his handling of the Sept. 11 attacks, and it is largely that collective memory that accounts for his current popularity in polls and makes him the early front-runner for his party's nomination. Yet as most New Yorkers could tell you, there are plenty of episodes in Giuliani's past that could come back to haunt him — scenes that...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Never say New Yorkers don't have sense of humor -- especially when they can stick it to the other side. A powerful New York Democrat, a mischievous gleam in his eye, is offering an early endorsement in the 2008 presidential race, where the field includes many hometown hopefuls like former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov. George Pataki and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I'm supporting Giuliani for the Republican," Rep. Charles Rangel said Monday, pausing briefly before delivering the punchline. "Kerik, as well," he added, referring to Giuliani's disgraced former police commissioner Bernard Kerik. Kerik pleaded guilty earlier...

Scandal-scarred former top cop Bernard Kerik turned down a deal with federal prosecutors that offered him less than two years in jail in return for a guilty plea to tax fraud Kerik - NYPD commissioner under Rudy Giuliani, who recommended him for Homeland Security secretary in 2004 - rejected the deal..... The case involves gifts Kerik received while in office, his Homeland Security application, a mortgage application and tax returns. Kerik pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor charges of taking money from contractors with alleged mob ties when he was the city's corrections chief. His nomination by President Bush to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York's Republican candidate for attorney general, who last year gave up a failing bid against U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, is under federal investigation for considering secretly recording her husband to learn if he was having an affair, officials said on Wednesday. Jeanine Pirro, a former district attorney whose efforts at higher public office have been plagued by personal scandal and public gaffes, revealed the probe at a news conference and insisted she broke no laws by discussing the idea with a security consultant. "Prying into the personal lives of married couples is not the business...

ATLANTIC CITY A mob-linked construction company - accused of lying about dealings with ex-NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik - must stop doing work for Atlantic City casinos....the Casino Control Commission suspended the licenses of Interstate Industrial Corp.......owners pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to a grand jury.....denying they secretly paid for the bulk of an extensive makeover of Kerik's apartment when he was in charge of city jails.

Bernard Kerik Linked to Mob-Owned Company * N.J. investigators Allege Payoffs in Exchange for Favors Nov 16, 2005 8:39 am US/Eastern ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) New Jersey investigators want a construction company banned from doing business with Atlantic City casinos because its owners allegedly lied about their dealings with Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner and one-time nominee for Homeland Security secretary. The investigators also said yesterday that they have information about ties between the construction company's owners, Frank and Peter DiTommaso, and the Gambino and DeCavalcante crime families. The state Division of Gaming Enforcement asked the Casino...

New Jersey casino investigators have reopened their case against the owners of a Clifton construction company that last year beat allegations of ties to organized crime and won a license to do business in Atlantic City. As part of the probe, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement wants to question former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, according to a subpoena issued to him. The agency subpoenaed Kerik last month and asked him to produce documents pertaining to 13 issues, from communication between him and the brothers who own Interstate Industrial and a sister company, Interstate Drywall, to records...

An internal NYPD investigation has been launched into possible abuse of department-issued credit cards while Bernard Kerik was police commissioner, the Daily News has learned. Investigators are poring through Police Headquarters computer data for evidence. Over the Christmas holiday weekend, detectives from the Internal Affairs Bureau seized all the computers from the NYPD office that issues credit cards, Social Security cards, driver's licenses and employment IDs under aliases to undercover cops, law enforcement sources said. The sources say the investigators are studying how the credit cards were used and what they bought from August 2000 to Dec. 31, 2001, while...

This has been a rough week for the Republican ’08 frontrunners, or former frontrunners. For completely opposite reasons, John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani have dug themselves a hole since the election, and it will be interesting to see how they climb out of it. One of them is playing up to Big Media and wearing his “Maverick Republican” label as a badge for all to see. The other is the unfortunate victim of “guilt by association.” Sen. John McCain has been on a peculiar track since his defeat in the 2000 Republican Presidential Primary. He has joined a list of...

A few years ago an individual I later learned was a major figure in the mafia offered me a well-paying job. At the time, I didn't know the full identity of the well-heeled man who made the employment offer. What I learned through this and subsequent conversations with mob-linked players though, opened my eyes to a world I had never seen before: a world where the mafia "makes" journalists. It means the mob feeds journalists inside "corruption" scoops they know will hurt the mob's enemies. The targets may be rival mob enterprises or investments. Before you know it, that reporter's...

New York City is a hall of funny mirrors, which is why even its smartest politicians don't know what normal looks like. Thus, it is entirely possible that former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani didn't notice anything strange about Bernard Kerik, who once served as his police commissioner. But while a raffish touch can be charming, a walk on the wild side is quite something else. Bush had no choice but to take a pass on Bernie Kerik. None of this will change Giuliani's political future. Had Kerik been a model Scout, Giuliani would still be facing a most unpromising career on...

(New York-AP) Dec. 12, 2004 - A new report is raising more questions about Bernard Kerik, two days after he withdrew his nomination to head the Homeland Security department. New York's "Daily News" says Kerik didn't report money he received while working for the city, including thousands of dollars to pay for his 1998 wedding. The paper also says he didn't report nearly $2,000 he was given to buy a jeweled Tiffany badge. New York officials must disclose any gift over $50 from someone who does business with the city, or any gift more than $1,000 from anyone else. Kerik...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 - President Bush readily accepted Bernard B. Kerik's decision to withdraw his nomination as homeland security secretary after the White House quickly concluded on Friday evening that it would be impossible for him to win confirmation for a post that supervises enforcement of the nation's immigration laws if he had had immigration problems in his own household, White House officials said on Saturday. Only hours earlier on Friday, Mr. Kerik informed the administration that, contrary to assurances he had given the White House counsel's office before the president nominated him on Dec. 3, a nanny he had...

During the opening night of the Republican National Convention on Aug. 30, Rudy Giuliani was midway through his speech, recounting yet again his experiences on Sept. 11, when he uttered the line that raised plenty of eyebrows. "As I stood watching the towers fall," he said, "I turned to Bernie, and I said, ‘Thank God George Bush is our President.’" Sitting in the audience, Bernard Kerik looked straight at his former boss up at the podium and nodded.The remarks may have surprised plenty of political reporters, who had never heard Mr. Giuliani recount those comments in the three years since...

Crime & Punishment:Why the Jails Didn’t Explode Frank Straub, Paul E. O'Connell    Five years ago, Gotham’s jails looked like they were ready to explode with violence. At Rikers Island—the democratic world’s largest penal complex, with ten facilities sprawling across 490 acres of concrete and razor ribbon—“a full-scale riot [was] . . . only one dis, one argument, one short-tempered outburst away,” as New York magazine then put it. And then, as Mayor Giuliani got tough on crime, even more prisoners crowded into the already-packed jails; the 110,410 inmates who went through the system in 1994 increased 20 percent,...

  It’s Rudeness, Not RacismBernard B. Kerik    Crime, police shootings, civilian complaints, officer corruption—all are at historical lows, giving the NYPD good reason to claim that it's more successful now than at any time in its history. Yet not everyone has a high opinion of New York's Finest. In particular, many of Gotham's black residents believe that the cops are racist. But I think they're mistaking something else for racism—something ugly, but entirely color-blind. Two personal experiences illustrate what I mean. In 1988, two years after I joined the force, I became an undercover narcotics officer. To look...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has chosen former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped direct the emergency response to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes against the Twin Towers, to lead the Homeland Security Department, charged with safeguarding Americans from future attack, administration officials said Thursday. Bush also announced his choice of Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to be agriculture secretary, selecting a dairy farmer's son who has traveled widely to promote American farm sales abroad. In a third development, U.N. Ambassador John Danforth submitted his resignation after holding the job for less than six months. He had been mentioned...

As most know I write for a moderately sized newspaper here in Florida. Earlier this evening there was some inside discussion from D.C. that Colin Powell will step aside as SOS and that of all people Newt Gingrich is rumored to be tapped for the spot. Also,Tom Ridge might be gone as well. Rumor...Bernard Kerik would take the spot.

If he chooses Bernard Kerik, the President would be putting a hero of the Sept. 11 attacks in charge of protecting the homeland. Kerik was at former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's side as the second plane slammed into the World Trade Center. With flaming debris raining down around him, he called the Pentagon for military air support. Washington insiders say Kerik has lobbied for the job while building a fortune working as a security consultant with Giuliani. Kerik recently sold his $5.8 million in shares of Taser International Inc., on which he serves as a director. Some have speculated the move...

NEW YORK -- Former New York City Police Commissioner and former Iraqi Interim Minister of Interior Bernard Kerik today issued the following statement: "Today is a historic day in the history of a free Iraq, and John Kerry's distortions about the situation on the ground are sending the wrong message to our troops and our allies, but most importantly our terrorist enemies. The reality is that there are nearly 100,000 trained and equipped Iraqi soldiers, police officers and security personnel risking their lives to move their nation forward. The progress we are seeing in Iraq is being made possible by...

Sen. Cornyn Says Kerry's Rhetoric Doesn't "Match Reality." Sen. John Cornyn: "Only John Kerry could say that Iraq should be included in the War on Terror, vote to support the Iraq War Resolution and then boast of being an 'anti-war candidate.' Now he wants to 'internationalize' an effort that already involves NATO nations, the UN and over 30 coalition partners. Kerry’s rhetoric on Iraq simply doesn’t match reality." Sen. Chambliss Says Kerry Offered Nothing But "Baseless Rhetoric And Anger." Sen. Saxby Chambliss: "Senator Kerry today argued for steps that are already in process. The fact of the matter is, NATO...

ARLINGTON, VA - Former New York City Police Commissioner Kerik made the following statement on the importance of the Patriot Act during a Bush Cheney '04 conference call previewing the release of a new campaign ad: "We don't have to replace the Patriot Act, we have to make sure we have it. Nobody knows and understands this more importantly than I do. I was here on September 11 in New York City. I fought the war against the Cali Cartel. I know how important it is to fight terrorism, both here and abroad. "And if you take the Patriot Act...

Bernard Kerik, former NYPD Commissioner, said it best when he told the 9/11 Commission that “no perfect radio exists” and “God help New York” if it should get attacked a third time. Most importantly, he cautioned that we must “remain preemptive,” because if we think we are safe from terrorism, and that our war is almost over, then we are sadly mistaken.

<p>NEW YORK - The constant critical debate in the United States over the Iraq war, broadcast by international media and carried into Iraqi homes as a result of newfound freedom, has been encouraging opposition to the coalition in the country, according to a former adviser to the U.S.-led administration in Baghdad.</p>

Kerik Takes Aim at Media Coverage of Iraq Stewart StogelThursday, October 16, 2003New York -- "The political criticism (on Iraq) in this country is becoming our enemy's best friend," Bernard Kerik told his audience at the Harvard Club in midtown Manhattan Wednesday evening. The former NYPD commissioner and police advisor to Coalition chief L. Paul Bremer, continued: "They only know and see the criticisms...for our people on the ground in Iraq it is not a good thing and hopefully at some point in time someone is going to see it and realize it and stop it..." Kerik, back in NYC...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryOctober 4, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This weekend in Iraq, 750 Iraqi citizens completed their military training and became the first battalion of the new Iraqi army. For decades, Iraq's army served the interests of a dictator. Today a new army is serving the Iraqi people. And less than a year from now, Iraq will have a 40,000-member military force, trained and dedicated to protecting their fellow citizens. Our coalition is helping to train and equip Iraq's new army, so that Iraqis can take over border protection and other...

<p>Welcome to a free Iraq" is what Jerry Bremer, administrator for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said to me as he reached out to shake my hand when I arrived in Baghdad four months ago. I'm still moved by those words as I say them myself, "Welcome to a free Iraq," just as I was moved yesterday by President Bush -- under pressure at home and abroad -- standing firmly by our nation-building project in his U.N. speech.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 24 — Eager to have more Iraqis take responsibility for their country's security, American officials here are planning to ferry as many as 28,000 Iraqis to Eastern Europe for an intensive police training course. Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City Police commissioner in charge of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said in an interview that American officials had secured permission from the government of Hungary to set up a large police academy inside an old Soviet military base there. Mr. Kerik said the extraordinary measures were necessary because the existing police academies in Iraq were not...

Geraldo Rivera is off of his honeymoon and in Iraq. On a teaser of his show for tonight he stated that Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner, informed him (Geraldo) that he will be leaving Iraq next week. Kerik's successor was not named, but Geraldo stated that Kerik said that he knew that the successor will do a good job. Tune in to the Geraldo Show tonight for more info.

<p>BAGHDAD — A senior United Nations official said yesterday that security had been stepped up at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad based on a warning tip received at least a week before Tuesday's suicide bombing.</p> <p>U.S. investigators said yesterday the attack appeared to be an inside job.</p>

U.N. Iraq Blast Possible 'Inside Job' U.N. Iraq Bombing Could Have Been an 'Inside Job,' U.S. Security Official Says The Associated Press BAGHDAD, Iraq Aug. 22 — U.S. investigators suspect the suicide truck bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad was an inside job and are questioning Iraqi employees and guards, many of whom were put into their positions with the world body by Saddam Hussein's security service, a top American official said Friday. Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner who is working to re-establish an Iraqi police force, said the placement of the truck bomb and...

<p>August 20, 2003 -- Former city top cop Bernard Kerik called yesterday's terrorist bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad a "cowardly and senseless" act that would turn more Iraqis against Saddam's supporters. "First, I want to express my condolences to the U.N. and the families of those lost," Kerik, who is helping rebuild the Baghdad police, told The Post.</p>

Top al-Qa'eda bombmakers have established at least two cells in Baghdad with the capacity to carry out large operations designed to destabilise American-backed efforts to restore order, officials of Iraq's new government have disclosed.Bernard Kerik, the former New York police chief brought in to the Iraqi police, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation would send officers to Baghdad to lead the investigation into suspected links between al-Qa'eda and last week's lorry bomb outside the Jordanian embassy, which killed at least 14 Iraqis.   The Jordanian embassy bomb has been linked to a militant group associated with al-Qa'eda Last night Jordanian...

A U.S. soldier stands guard at the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad as investigations continue into the attack. AGHDAD, Aug. 8 — Bernard Kerik had just begun to tell me how he was building a new police force for Iraq when his cellphone rang. "Are we sure it was a car?" he asked. "How close in to the building did they get? What about casualties?" Moments later, Mr. Kerik bolted from his office at the Republican Palace, the massive headquarters of the Coalition Provisional Authority that administers Iraq. He was headed for the Jordanian Embassy, where a car bomb had...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bernard Kerik was dubbed the "Baghdad Terminator" after he summarily dismissed a newly reinstated Iraqi official who turned out to be a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. A British journalist happened to be there and the ex-New York police commissioner had a new unofficial title. "If you're going to criticize me for terminating Baath Party members go ahead. I like that," Kerik tells an Associated Press reporter accompanying him on his day's rounds. "You can't please everyone. We're in Iraq; this is a war zone. Perhaps you can do things nicely, but there's times you can't."...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Bernard Kerik was dubbed the "Baghdad Terminator" after he summarily dismissed a newly reinstated Iraqi official who turned out to be a member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. A British journalist happened to be there and the ex-New York police commissioner had a new unofficial title. "If you're going to criticize me for terminating Baath Party members go ahead. I like that," Kerik tells an Associated Press reporter accompanying him on his day's rounds. "You can't please everyone. We're in Iraq; this is a war zone. Perhaps you can do things nicely, but there's times you can't."...