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Pour one out for Rudy Giuliani, who apparently likes a heavy pour. In fact, you better make it a double, since Trump’s favorite pro bono lawyer woke up to two very unpleasant stories this morning.
First, the New York Times’s Matt Flegenheimer and Maggie Haberman are out with a piece on Rudy’s drinking, at which he apparently excels:
For more than a decade, friends conceded grimly, Mr. Giuliani’s drinking had been a problem. And as he surged back to prominence during the presidency of Donald J. Trump, it was getting more difficult to hide it.
On some nights when Mr. Giuliani was overserved, an associate discreetly signaled the rest of the club, tipping back his empty hand in a drinking motion, out of the former mayor’s line of sight, in case others preferred to keep their distance. Some allies, watching Mr. Giuliani down Scotch before leaving for Fox News interviews, would slip away to find a television, clenching through his rickety defenses of Mr. Trump.
Even at less rollicking venues — a book party, a Sept. 11 anniversary dinner, an intimate gathering at Mr. Giuliani’s own apartment — his consistent, conspicuous intoxication often startled his company.
Meanwhile, Rudy appears to have lost local counsel in Georgia, where’s he’s been charged in the sweeping RICO indictment over election interference in 2020. Last week his attorney David Wolfe notified the court that he was withdrawing from the case, and this morning attorney Brian Tevis moved to follow suit. It’s not clear whether Judge Scott McAfee will approve the motion, which would leave Giuliani without local representation.
Giuliani is facing down a devastating defamation suit by Atlanta poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, in which his refusal to comply with discovery already got him a default judgment. He’s being sued for non-payment of fees by his former lawyer and friend Robert Costello. He’s facing a lawsuit by a woman who worked for him and alleges that he coerced her into a sexual relationship. And he just got sued by Hunter Biden, who alleges that Guiliani hacked into his iCloud account.
Luckily, Rudy has discovered a ready source of funds, and all his worries will soon disappear.
He’s suing the president.
In New Hampshire state court.
For calling him a “Russian pawn.”
In October of 2020.
During a presidential debate in Nashville, TN.
Obviously.
How could a court in New Hampshire — which just so happens to have a three-year statute of limitations on defamation — possibly have jurisdiction over comments made in Tennessee?
Well, see, the Supreme Court said in 1984 that Hustler Magazine could be sued in New Hampshire because it sold its product there, so … ummm, yeah. The complaint similarly yaddayaddayaddas over personal jurisdiction by claiming that Biden either made the comments to New Hampshire media outlets, or in such a forum as to know they would be published in the state.
But wait, there’s more!
The Plaintiff may recover for the distribution of each defamatory statements in all jurisdictions, and not just New Hampshire, including without limitation those jurisdictions whose own statutes of limitations would bar recovery.
The gravamen of the allegations is that Biden called Rudy a “Russian pawn” and said that nobody but Rudy and Trump believed the garbage about Hunter Biden’s “laptop.” In point of fact, Giuliani was being used as part of an influence operation by Russian agent Andrii Derkach. Derkach, a Ukrainian parliamentarian who fed Giuliani information about Joe and Hunter Biden, was sanctioned by the Trump Treasury Department in for interfering in the 2020 election, and later indicted for fraud and money laundering.
A September 2020 Treasury press release read:
Derkach, a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament, has been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services. Derkach has directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election.
[…]
From at least late 2019 through mid-2020, Derkach waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives concerning U.S. officials in the upcoming 2020 Presidential Election, spurring corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States designed to culminate prior to election day. Derkach’s unsubstantiated narratives were pushed in Western media through coverage of press conferences and other news events, including interviews and statements.
Anyway, here’s Rudy Giuliani with his attorney lawyer Lou Diamond announcing the case.
And if you were thinking, wow, that guy looks like a mob lawyer from Staten Island who uses a hotmail address in his signature block calling himself “BikerLou45,” you would be correct.
And now … we all need a drink.
Giuliani’s Drinking, Long a Fraught Subject, Has Trump Prosecutors’ Attention [NYT]
Giuliani v. Biden [Complaint via The Hill]
Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics and appears on the Opening Arguments podcast.
