Rudy Giuliani denies having an alcohol problem in bizarre TV interview

Formerly known as ‘America’s mayor’, Mr Giuliani’s reputation began sinking once he took on the role of Donald Trump’s personal attorney

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has denied to local media that he has a drinking problem – or that he has ever given an interview while under the influence.

Interviewed in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Mr Giuliani – who is under investigation for his dealings on behalf of Mr Trump and being sued over his false election fraud campaign – projected an avuncular persona when asked how he felt about many Americans’ perception of him.

Conceding to NBC New York’s Melissa Russo that he knows people think he has “gone off the rails”, he insisted he doesn’t care about that perception (which he has previously described it as “extremely insulting”) and that it is in fact the US that’s gone off the rails.

On the matter of his increasingly erratic public statements and behaviour in recent years, Ms Russo also asked Mr Giuliani whether he had a drinking problem.

“Never at all,” he said, “Never at all.”

Asked whether he was drunk in previous interviews given during and after the Trump administration, he was adamant.

“Absolutely not. I don’t think I’ve ever done an interview drunk. I mean, I drink normally. I like Scotch, I drink Scotch... I’m not an alcoholic. I’m a functioning, I probably function more effectively than 90 percent of the population.”

Concerns about Mr Giuliani’s public performances have circulated in the Trump circle since he joined the president’s team. The issue has surfaced in print interviews too, including one account of a freewheeling and falsehood-ridden conversation with New York magazine that featured him ordering and drinking two bloody Marys while talking to a journalist.

Elsewhere in the NBC interview, Mr Giuliani expressed amusement that FBI investigators have supposedly not been able to get into all of the various devices they seized from him earlier this year. He has repeatedly described the investigation as “unconstitutional”.