Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani says he will campaign for Staten Island Republican DA Dan Donovan — the prosecutor in the controversial Eric Garner case — to succeed Rep. Michael Grimm, who resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion.
“I’m involved 100 percent for Dan. I will be on Staten Island to campaign for Dan,” Giuliani told The Post Wednesday.
Giuliani praised Donovan for not indicting Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the choke hold death of Garner, saying the cop’s actions were not criminal.
Giuliani laughed when he heard that Al Sharpton intneds to use the Garner case to try to block Donovan from getting to Washington.
“You want Dan to win by a bigger landslide? Send Al Sharpton to Staten Island. People on Staten Island know what a racial arsonist he is. We can only hope that Sharpton will oppose him,” Giuliani said.
O’Donovan appears to have a lock on the GOP nomination.
“Dan is far and away the best candidate. No one knows Staten Island better than Dan,” said Giuliani, noting that the district attorney served as a top deputy to two borough presidents — Guy Molinari and James Molinaro.
“Dan is one of the best district attorneys in the state. He’ll make a great congressman. He’ll know more about law enforcement than 95 percent of the Congress and he has strong government experience.”
Gov. Cuomo is expected to call for a special election to replace Grimm, who, despite his legal woes, was handily re-elected in November to a third term.
He pleaded guilty to tax fraud a month after his re-election and is leaving his post on Monday.