Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits under scrutiny in Trump 2020 election probe

DoJ has inquired about whether Trump took Giuliani’s legal advice on election night

Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits are increasingly becoming a topic of concern in the news media as well as among investigators at the Justice Department involved in the prosecution of Donald Trump.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Jack Smith, the special prosecutor assigned by the Justice Department to investigate Mr Trump’s conduct in the days following the 2020 election, has been asking aides and others around the former president’s ex-attorney about Mr Giuliani’s level of inebriation — and what Mr Trump knew about how inebriated Mr Giuliani supposedly was as he was giving him strategic and legal advice.

Mr Giuliani has flatly denied giving legal advice or speaking on camera while intoxicated. Others around him also denied this to the Times, but the newspaper cited numerous other sources close to the former mayor who described his drinking habits as worsening in the years after his presidential primary defeat and throughout his service to Donald Trump. Many expressed that it was plainly obvious when the former mayor appeared on Fox News to discuss the president while significantly inebriated.

And Mr Smith’s interest in the matter has separately been reported by The Daily Beast. The special counsel “has questioned witnesses about Mr Giuliani’s alcohol consumption as he was advising Mr Trump, including on election night,” one source with knowledge of the situation told the Times.

The ex-mayor is known to have been one of if not the driving force urging Mr Trump to oppose the official election results in the hours and days after the election. In the months that followed, Mr Giuliani would be the public face of then-President Trump’s legal team as it sought (and failed) to produce evidence actually proving any kind of election fraud or malicious activity influencing the 2020 election results. Their conclusions were not supported by the Department of Justice, then headed by a Trump appointee, or any other recognised authority.

News that Mr Giuliani may have been drunk on election night when he advised Mr Trump to not accept defeat was first uncovered by the January 6 committee, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House that investigated the attack on the US Capitol last year. Numerous aides to Mr Trump have testified under oath that the ex-mayor was drunk, including Jason Miller, who remains a member of the ex-president’s inner circle and frequently travels with him to events.

Meanwhile, Mr Giuliani has reportedly been spotted at Mar-a-Lago appealing to Mr Trump to help pay his mounting legal bills, a result of his ongoing criminal charges in the Georgia case against the Trump campaign as well as a handful of other matters. Some have described the costs of his representation to the Times as shattering his financial well-being.

Mr Giuliani, Mr Trump and 17 others were indicted last month in Georgia on a number of felony counts including a RICO charge that carries a minimum sentence that includes prison time. He has pleaded not guilty.

A major law firm that previously represented him, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, is also now suing Mr Giuliani for unpaid legal fees and alleges that he owes more than $1.3m in unpaid debts to the firm.

The former mayor has responded to that lawsuit by claiming that the firm’s demanded sum “is way in excess to anything approaching legitimate fees”.

A spokesperson for Mr Giuliani pushed back on the New York Times report in a statement to the newspaper.

“I’m with the mayor on a regular basis for the past year, and the idea that he is an alcoholic is a flat-out lie,” Ted Goodman told the Times. “The Rudy Giuliani you all see today is the same man who took down the mafia, cleaned up the streets of New York and comforted the nation following 9/11.”