Rudy Giuliani impersonates Queen and talks about Prince Andrew in wild speech at 9/11 memorial dinner

Former mayor lambasts Biden officials for Afghanistan withdrawal: ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

Rudy Giuliani impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and berated President Joe Biden during a wild speech at an annual event to commemorate the 9/11 terror attacks.

The former New York City mayor appeared on stage to address the crowd at the ritzy Cipriani restaurant in midtown Manhattan, hours after attending a memorial service at Ground Zero alongside President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on the 20th anniversary of the attacks.

In rambling remarks, the former mayor discussed his apparent interactions with the Queen and sexual assault allegations against her son, Prince Andrew.

He also ripped into the Biden administration’s drawdown from the 20-year war in Afghanistan last month.

“I dunno. I shouldn’t get into this,” he said. “What Biden did in the last two weeks is freaking insane. It cannot be explained.”

The former attorney for Donald Trump also lambasted General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, over his decision to withdraw from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

He said: “I wanted to grab his – what is it, five stars? Ten stars? Twelve stars? – he had so many stars they’re coming up his ears. I wanted to grab his stars and shove it down his throat, and say, ‘It’s 400 miles from China, a******.’ China is going to be our enemy for the next 40 years. You have an airbase 400 miles from them and you’re giving it up, idiot? What the hell is wrong with you? Who pays you? Christ! That is crazy.”

Mr Giuliani claimed that Queen Elizabeth offered to knight him following the September 11 attacks.

While appearing to speak in the Queen’s voice, he said: “[The Queen] said, ‘You did a wonderful job, on September 11, and therefore I’m making you an honorary knight, commander of the royal something or other.’”

He went on to claim than he had turned down the honour before falsely stating that “if you took a knighthood you had to lose your citizenship”.

In the wake of 9/11, Mr Guiliani was named Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his “outstanding help and support to the bereaved British families in New York” but was not required to renounced his US citizenship.

Mr Giuliani then pivoted to speaking about the Queen’s son, Prince Andrew, who has been accused of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit. The prince has repeatedly denied the allegations in the legal action brought by Virginia Giuffre, a longtime accuser of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I know Prince Andrew is very questionable now,” Mr Giuliani said. “I never went out with him. Ever! Never. Never had a drink with him, never was with a woman or a young girl with him.”

Far-right media figure and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, whose Real America’s Voice network broadcast from the event at Cipriani, also was in attendance.

Former New York Police Department commissioner Bernie Kerik, who was granted a presidential pardon by Mr Trump over his 2010 guilty plea to tax fraud and lying to the government, spoke onstage before Mr Giuliani.

Pat Lynch, the president of the Police Benevolent Association which endorsed Mr Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, also appeared onstage.

Among the guests reportedly at the event were husband-and-wife attorneys Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing, part of the legal team that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Independent has requested comment from Mr Giuliani.