Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani is almost broke and Trump doesn’t seem to care all that much, sources have told The New York Times.
Giuliani is currently struggling under a mountain of legal fees as he attempts to fend off a major federal investigation and answer a $1.3 billion lawsuit. Trump, meanwhile, isn’t pitching in a dime of the millions he has raised in his ongoing battle against a legitimate election, according to New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.
Giuliani’s supporters are “aghast” that Trump isn’t helping out, according to Haberman, given that many of his activities were carried out on Trump’s behalf to push the former president’s “Big Lie” of a rigged election.
But helping Giuliani is “problematic” for the former president (and definitely for his bank account), and Giuliani should have known better than to undertake some of his activities, sources told Haberman.
Giuliani allies are looking at the Trump $ – even if it isn't $82 million – and are aghast that Trump isn't helping Giuliani with legal fees. Giuliani's friends say he is saying he is close to broke, and his interview w @MelissaRusso4NY makes clear he knows he's in legal jeopardy https://t.co/mv9QtedbMR
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 1, 2021
Trump aides have been clear they see no mechanism for paying Giuliani’s legal bills that isn’t problematic for Trump, and they think Giuliani took actions a lawyer should have known were problematic, even if the client wanted it.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 1, 2021
The Washington Post also reported early this year that Trump had shut out his attorney, even though Giuliani had traveled the country promoting Trump’s tale of a stolen election. Trump was unhappy with Giuliani’s demand for $20,000 a day in fees, and “privately expressed concern” about some of Giuliani’s moves, sources told the newspaper then.
Not only was Trump refusing to pay Giuliani’s legal fees, but he told aides that all reimbursement requests for travel and other expenses needed to go through him, according to the Post.
Giuliani, who has been suspended from practicing law in New York and Washington, D.C., for his questionable activities, is currently embroiled in a massive $1.3 billion lawsuit filed against him by Dominion Voting Systems.
The suit accuses Giuliani of defamation through a “viral disinformation campaign about Dominion” made up of “demonstrably false” allegations, in part to enrich himself through legal fees and a podcast. Giuliani’s fact-free attack on Dominion was part of his and Trump’s baseless narrative about a rigged election.
Giuliani is also being investigated by the FBI for his activities on behalf of certain officials – and Trump – in Ukraine. He was part of Trump’s strategy to hold up Congress-approved military aid to Ukraine to pressure officials to launch a baseless investigation into Joe Biden that led to the former president’s first impeachment.
Audio of conversations released in June revealed Giuliani repeatedly suggesting to Ukrainian officials that the nation could have a “better relationship” with the U.S. if the country’s president would open a Biden probe in 2019.
In an interview Friday on NBC New York, Giuliani called the investigation “lawless” – and said everything he did was on behalf of his client, Donald Trump.
“I am more than willing to go to jail if they want to put me in jail. And if they do, they’re going to suffer the consequences in heaven,” he declared.
A New York state appellate court in June said Giuliani would be temporarily barred from practicing law in the state for making “false and misleading statements” about the 2020 election, pending further investigation into his behavior.
“The seriousness of respondent’s uncontroverted misconduct cannot be overstated,” the court said in its 33-page decision. “This country is being torn apart by continued attacks on the legitimacy of the 2020 election.”