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 ...

New climate envoy John Kerry sold off energy holdings to avoid conflict of interest, disclosures show

Financial disclosures released by former Secretary of State John Kerry indicate that until March of this year he held hundreds of thousands of dollars of investments in energy-related companies that may end up being affected by policies he'll help shape as President Joe Biden's new climate envoy. An ABC News analysis of his assets show that in recent years, Kerry held stakes in at least three dozen companies related to the energy industry, including firms dealing in electric, oil and gas, and nuclear energy, with shares worth between $204,000 and $960,000. Kerry had also recently held high-ranking positions within firms and entities that could end up being regulated by his climate action policies, filings show. A certificate of divestiture issued by the Office of Government Ethics on March 8 shows Kerry's plan to divest from companies that could pose a conflict of interest for his new role as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, a common measure that newly appointed...

Biden on working with Senate Republicans: 'I'll never publicly embarrass them'

President-elect Joe Biden Joe BidenJudge throws out GOP lawsuit to close Georgia ballot drop boxes after business hours First responders serenade Fauci with 'happy birthday' Joe Biden can be the president for middle class workers and all races MORE expressed optimism that he will be able to work with Republicans because of his years working alongside them, despite a sharply divided Congress. “My leverage is, every senior Republican knows I’ve never once, ever, misled them,” Biden said on a telephone call Wednesday with several columnists, according to The New York Times. “I’ll never publicly embarrass them.” Biden faces a Congress deeply divided along party lines. Many Republican lawmakers have sided with President Trump Donald TrumpPowell says White House aides won't let her help Trump Judge throws out GOP lawsuit to close Georgia ballot drop boxes after business hours Bipartisan, bicameral group urges Trump to sign COVID-19 relief package MORE's unproven claims of ele...