Giuliani defends Trump for not endorsing his son for New York governor, saying he wants ‘fair and square primary’

‘I like the president being neutral,’ says the former New York mayor, who served as the former president’s personal attorney

Rudy Giuliani says he doesn’t mind that his former client, Donald Trump, hasn’t endorsed his son for New York’s next governor.

At the New York State Republican Convention on Tuesday, a reporter asked the former New York City mayor if he’d like Mr Trump to support his son, Andrew Giuliani, who is running for governor.

“That’s something for the future to consider,” the elder Mr Giuliani replied. “I like where it is right now. I like the president being neutral, and I’d like to see – honestly, for the good of the party – I’d like to see a fair and square primary. Let the serious candidates battle it out.”

At the convention, held in Long Island, GOP candidates competed for the votes of the Republican State Committee. Under the state party’s system, whoever wins at least 25 per cent of the committee’s votes automatically gets a spot in the primary for governor.

On Tuesday, Congressman Lee Zeldin won that percentage, becoming the presumptive nominee. Those who come up short can still make it into the primary, but they have to scrounge together 15,000 petition signatures.

That afternoon, Andrew Giuliani was seen giving his father a petition to sign. As the former mayor penned his signature, he claimed he didn’t want Mr Trump to give anyone an “edge” in the race – including his son.

“So far, this guy is winning that battle,” Mr Giuliani said, referring to Andrew. “He’s willing to do an open primary – equal terms for everybody, nobody getting an edge. Let’s just go out there, 3 million Republicans – we’ll let them decide.”

Mr Giuliani served as Mr Trump’s personal lawyer from 2018 to early 2021. After the former president lost his bid for reelection, Mr Giuliani launched a flurry of unsuccessful lawsuits attempting to overturn the results, and publicly spread conspiracy theories about two voting machine companies.

Those efforts had severe consequences for Mr Giuliani. A New York appellate court suspended his law licence, and the two voting machine companies – Dominion and Smartmatic – sued him for defamation.

In spite of this loyalty, Mr Trump reportedly “cut off” his former lawyer after leaving the White House. According to the DC journalist Michael Wolff, the ex-president was annoyed that Mr Giuliani asked to be paid for his post-election work, which failed to reverse the outcome.

“I do pay my lawyers when they do a good job,” Mr Trump said last year.