The rise and fall of Rudy Giuliani is a sight to behold

The former New York mayor’s situation now is a sad reflection on a life that once seemed to hold the utmost promise, writes Kim Sengupta

An astonishing fall from grace for the former mayor of New York (AP)

The raids on the homes and offices of Rudy Giuliani came as no surprise. They resulted from an effort to smear Joe Biden through his son Hunter’s work in Ukraine, an effort that has spectacularly backfired, making him the subject of an FBI investigation and triggering Donald Trump’s first impeachment.

The searches followed many recent humiliating episodes in the life of Giuliani – his ludicrous legal attempts to prove that Trump had won the presidential election; an incoherent appearance on television, and being filmed by concealed camera lying in bed fumbling with his trousers in the presence of a young woman in a sting for a Borat film. Not to mention a press conference with black hair-dye running down his sweaty face under television lights, as he spouted imaginary tales of stolen votes.

Giuliani was back on television again after the FBI visit. Unsurprisingly it was on Fox TV, the one channel that still gives him a regular platform, with Tucker Carlson. It was a meandering performance, which included accusing the agents of ignoring incriminating evidence he offered them on Hunter Biden. At one stage he got names mixed up, Tucker was called Hunter.

What is taking place is an astonishing fall from grace of a man who was lauded “America’s Mayor” for his leadership and fortitude in New York in the days following 9/11. A man who had also earned the nickname “modern-day Eliot Ness” and great praise when, as Manhattan prosecutor, he went after Mafia bosses and rapacious wolves of Wall Street like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken. A man, who on the back of a glowing reputation, had once run for the presidency.

Giuliani’s stock was high after the September 11 attacks. The tone he set was seen to be uplifting and unifying, but also measured. While president George W Bush sought refuge in a bunker, the then-mayor was on the streets of his stricken city with the emergency services. While condemning terrorism, he repeatedly stressed that the Muslim community must not be made scapegoats, and authorised security measures against possible racist attacks.

There was widespread international praise for Giuliani. Among the accolades he received was being made an honorary knight by the Queen, with the handing of the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Outsiders, including foreign journalists who had arrived in New York to report at the time, were among those who could not fail to be impressed.

Tony Blair, then the prime minister, gave a very moving reading, with a poignant passage from Upton Sinclair, for the victims of the attack, at St Thomas’s Church in Fifth Avenue. A few of the journalists hung around to have a look at the church afterwards. As we were leaving, we saw Giuliani outside. This was not for the consumption of the cameramen and photographers, they had long gone. “Guys, please don’t make a big deal of this, I just wanted to pay my personal respect,” said the then-mayor.

While trying to get background material on Giuliani, we heard accounts of the lengths he had sometimes gone to in order not to be seen to be cosying up to the rich and powerful of the city.

One anecdote was about a breakfast with his team at the Plaza Hotel. Giuliani warned those with him that Trump would try and pick up the bill if he spotted them. That was what happened, but the hospitality was declined with Trump told that it would breach campaign funding rules. He had, according to associates, a deep distrust of Trump at the time.

Giuliani won two terms as mayor, with his policies having a significant impact on reducing the city’s high crime rate. In office he was pro-gay rights, pro-abortion and for gun control.

In 2001 Giuliani was Time magazine’s “Person of the Year”. In 2006 he was, according to an opinion poll, the most popular politician in the country. A year later he announced he would be running for the White House. He was an early favourite for the Republican nomination, polling 44 per cent to John McCain’s 20 per cent, and raising the most money, almost $60m.

Giuliani failed abjectly, losing every state and winning just one delegate. He had failed mainly because of an inherently flawed campaign strategy. But his legacy after 9/11 was tarnished by some of the clients he had chosen to represent in his private legal practice. They were lucrative accounts but they included states like Qatar, which were viewed by many in the US as being ambiguous towards Islamist terrorism.

Giuliani dropped out and endorsed John McCain. Barack Obama, who beat McCain to the White House, came under sustained attack from Giuliani. The former mayor was not a “birther” – a propagator of the false claim that Obama was not born in the US – but he questioned the would-be president’s patriotism, and kept up a hostile barrage against him on Fox News.

The credibility of “America’s Mayor” certainly suffered. He appeared to be relegated to the political fringes.

In 2016, just before that year’s presidential election, Giuliani joined the Trump campaign and soon established himself as a diehard supporter. One of the few to stand by the candidate when the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump bragged about how one “can do anything” to women if you are famous, emerged. Giuliani appeared on every big Sunday morning television show to defend Trump.

Steve Bannon, then Trump’s chief strategist, who last year pleaded not guilty to fraud charges relating to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, intended to bolster Trump’s signature initiative along the Mexican border, said: “One of the reasons we won is Rudy was there 24/7. Rudy was hardcore. He was like a honey badger.”

Giuliani may have given help to the Trump campaign in other ways as well. The announcement during the 2016 campaign by James Comey that he was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails wiped out her comfortable lead in the polls.

Comey, who was later to be fired by Trump for refusing to drop the Russiagate investigation, wrote a letter to Congress about the reinvestigation. Two days before the letter was made public, Giuliani talked about “a surprise or two you’re going to hear about in the next few days. We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve that should turn things around”.

After publication he claimed he had heard from current and former agents that “there’s a kind of revolution going on inside the FBI” over the original decision not to charge Clinton over the emails and that Comey had been forced by some of his agents to announce the reinvestigation.

As for the Ukraine investigation Giuliani is facing now, he is accused of failing to register as a foreign agent, contrary to the Foreign Agents Registration Act – which requires people to notify the State Department if they are acting as a foreign agent on behalf of another nation. People found guilty of the offence face a fine of up to $ 250,000 and/or five years’ imprisonment. Giuliani’s lawyer says his client denies breaking the law.

Giuliani is also facing a defamation suit from Dominion Voting System, which is seeking $1.3bn in damages over false claims that the company was switching votes from Trump to Biden. Giuliani trying to have the charges thrown out and has added that he may file a countersuit against the company for violating his rights.

Giuliani has insisted that he will be remembered with respect by the American people. “When this is over, I will be a hero,” he said. But, asked about his travails, he has also declared that “my attitude about my legacy is f*** it”.

It is a sad reflection on a life that once seemed to hold the utmost promise.