Skip to main content

Trump attorneys described Giuliani as 'deranged' and likened the team pushing election fraud claims to a 'clown car,' report says


Attorneys on the Trump campaign legal team described Rudy Giuliani as "deranged" and ill-suited to litigating the legal effort to overturn the election result, reported The Washington Post.

Giuliani has been mocked for missteps during the legal campaign, with the former New York City mayor holding a bizarre press briefing at a suburban garden center on November 7 after an apparent venue booking mix-up.

At a press briefing on November 20, where black liquid trickled down Giuliani's face, fellow campaign attorney Sidney Powell alleged a vast communist conspiracy to overturn the election — while providing no evidence.

The legal team's antics have reportedly been too much even for Trump.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Lawyers working on the Trump campaign have said Rudy Giuliani seemed "deranged' and ill-prepared to lead the legal effort to overturn the election result, reported The Washington Post Sunday.

In a deep-dive into the Trump campaign's unprecedented attempt to overturn the election result, the Post reports that a rift developed in the campaign's legal team earlier in November.

A turning point was reportedly a November 13 defeat in the 3rd District US Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania, where a judge threw out the Trump's campaign's bid to invalidate thousands of mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

After the result some of the campaign's key attorneys began to drift away from the effort to overturn the result, believing it signaled the end of the campaign's bid to credibly challenge vote counts. But Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, battled on.

Giuliani's efforts to overturn the election result have at times been farcical, with the former New York City mayor holding a press conference at a suburban garden center in an apparent mix-up in booking venues. At a media briefing on November 19, black liquid could be seen trickling down Giuliani's face, and fellow campaign attorney Sidney Powell alleged a vast conspiracy to overturn the election involving Venezuelan communists and Democrats.

Neither she nor Giuliani have provided compelling evidence to substantiate the claim, and the campaign has parted ways with Powell.

According to the Post, some of the campaign and GOP attorneys involved in the election challenge began to distance themselves from Giuliani earlier in November and sought to avoid meetings with Giuliani and his team. When Giuliani and Powell were asked by other campaign officials for evidence to substantiate their fraud claims, they were unable to produce it.

Some attorneys described Giuliani as seeming "deranged" in comments to the Post.

Giuliani clashed with other Trump campaign attorneys, according to the report, and continued to tell the president he had a serious chance of winning his lawsuits, while other officials offered more realistic assessments. Trump after November 13 handed Giuliani and his team control of the legal effort.

One senior administration official was scathing about Giuliani's strategy. "Just roll everybody up who is willing to do it into a clown car, and when it's time for a press conference, roll them out," is how the official characterized it to the Post.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Giuliani's conspiracy theories have reportedly proved too much even for Trump, according to reports, and though he continues to claim the election was stolen from him he has approved vital funds be released for Biden's transition.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Biden says K-12 education isn't working — calls for free pre-K to "grade 14"

President Joe Biden on Wednesday praised the nation's K-12 education system for fueling America's economic growth for almost a century. But, he stressed, that system may no longer be sufficient as the foundation for future prosperity. Mr. Biden's American Families Plan is taking aim at an issue that has bedeviled economists as well as millions of families struggling to stay afloat financially: A high school diploma is no longer enough to secure a middle-class life. Under the White House proposal, the nation's K-12 system would be expanded on both ends — from free pre-kindergarten education through a "grade 14," funding two years of schooling before kindergarten and two years of post-high school education through free community college. There's plenty of economic research that links rising high school graduation rates throughout the 20th century to faster U.S. economic growth. For example, broadening education help women enter the workforce and enabled men ...

Matt Gaetz's ex-girlfriend to cooperate with federal authorities in sex trafficking investigation

Washington (CNN) Federal authorities investigating alleged sex trafficking by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz have secured the cooperation of the congressman's ex-girlfriend, according to people familiar with the matter. The woman, a former Capitol Hill staffer, is seen as a critical witness, as she has been linked to Gaetz as far back as the summer of 2017, a period of time that has emerged as a key window of scrutiny for investigators. She can also help investigators understand the relevance of hundreds of transactions they have obtained records of, including those involving alleged payments for sex, the sources said. News of the woman's willingness to talk, which has not been previously reported, comes just days after the Justice Department formally entered into a plea agreement with Joel Greenberg, a one-time close friend of Gaetz whose entanglement with young women first drew the congressman onto investigators' radar. CNN reported last week that investigators were pressing for the...

Rand Paul?s ignorant questioning of Rachel Levine showed why she should be confirmed as assistant health secretary

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), however, seemed more interested in talking about children’s genitals. “Dr. Levine, you have supported [minors] being given hormone blockers, and surgical reconstruction of a child’s genitalia,” Paul said, in a tirade in which he also conflated genital mutilation (a horrifying practice that public health experts view as a human rights violation) with the transition-related surgeries chosen by some transgender individuals to help their bodies conform with their gender identity. AD AD “You give a woman testosterone enough that she grows a beard. Do you think she’s going to go back looking like a woman when you stop the testosterone?” Paul demanded. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questioned nominee for assistant health secretary Rachel Levine about her position on gender-affirming care for minors. (The Washington Post) Levine, who most recently worked as Pennsylvania’s top health official, is transgender. If her nomination succeeds, she will become the first publicly transg...