Prosecutors ask questions about Rudy Giuliani’s alcohol consumption

Prosecutors have questioned witnesses about Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits in the federal trial of Donald Trump over attempts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a report.

Investigators in special counsel Jack Smith’s office have also questioned the extent to which Trump was aware of his lawyer’s drinking as the couple tried to prevent the recognition of Joe Biden as the election winner New York Times.

The report contends that answers to such questions could have consequences for the former president’s current lawyers as they seek to apply so-called legal advice, which could argue that Trump was merely a client following the advice of his lawyers. According to the report, such an argument could be weakened if Trump knew he was being advised by someone who was “compromised by alcohol,” especially since others close to him had told him he had lost the election.

Giuliani’s drinking was previously commented on by other Trump advisers who were at the White House on election night. Jason Miller, a senior Trump adviser, told the committee on Jan. 6 that Giuliani was “definitely drunk” the night he told others, “We have to say we won.” Miller said he “didn’t know how drunk he was when he spoke to the president,” and Giuliani denied the statement. Liz Cheney, co-chair of the committee, said Trump “followed the advice of an apparently drunken Rudy Giuliani.”

Trump himself had privately made “derisive” comments about Giuliani’s alcohol consumption, it was said Just, citing a source familiar with the comments. The newspaper also reported that friends and former associates of the former New York mayor felt that his drinking had reinforced some of his traits – “conspiracy, gullibility, a weakness for grandeur” – rather than bringing about a wholesale change in his character.

“I have been seeing the mayor regularly for a year and the idea that he is an alcoholic is a blatant lie,” said Ted Goodman, a political adviser to Giuliani Just in a statement. He added: “The Rudy Giuliani you all see today is the same man who defeated the Mafia, cleaned up the streets of New York and comforted the nation after 9/11.”