But first, the New York Times reported on Tuesday that Giuliani had requested a fee of $20,000 per day from the Trump campaign for his, umm, unique legal services. (Giuliani denied making such a request. (So it was only $18,000 per day?))
The Times' subheadline: "Last week, the president put the former New York mayor in charge of the court challenges to his loss in the election. Since then they have suffered nothing but setbacks." Which makes both Trump and Giuliani sound like bumbling idiots. That is true, of course, but any lawyer bringing these incoherent and nonsensical lawsuits would have been laughed out of court.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has helped oversee a string of failed court challenges to President Trump's defeat in the election, asked the president's campaign to pay him $20,000 a day for his legal work, multiple people briefed on the matter said.Giuliani made a lot of nutty and false comments at Thursday's press conference (which one observer said was so off-the-rails it made his speech at Four Seasons Total Landscaping sound like the Gettysburg Address):
The request stirred opposition from some of Mr. Trump's aides and advisers, who appear to have ruled out paying that much, and it is unclear how much Mr. Giuliani will ultimately be compensated.
Since Mr. Giuliani took over management of the legal effort, Mr. Trump has suffered a series of defeats in court and lawyers handling some of the remaining cases have dropped out. . . .
Some Trump allies fear that Mr. Giuliani is encouraging the president to continue a spurious legal fight because he sees financial advantage for himself in it. . . .
Mr. Trump’s insistence that widespread voter fraud cost him the election has no basis in fact . . .
Mr. Giuliani has encouraged Mr. Trump to believe a number of conspiracy theories about voting machine irregularities, according to multiple people close to the president . . . Late last week, Mr. Giuliani repeatedly insisted to the president that his other advisers have not been telling him the truth about his chances of success in his legal battles to overturn the results of the election.
Last Friday, as Mr. Trump's legal fight in Arizona appeared to peter out when the campaign dropped a lawsuit in Maricopa County, Ariz., that was destined to fail, the president put Mr. Giuliani in charge of all election-related litigation and communications for it.
On Monday, the day before a key hearing on a lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania, Mr. Giuliani forced out a lawyer who had been leading the case, two people briefed on the events said. That left Mr. Trump's team scrambling for a replacement. The local lawyer now handling the case has referred to Mr. Biden as the winner of the election and has said the lawsuits will not change that outcome. . . .
On Tuesday, Mr. Giuliani made the opening argument in the Pennsylvania hearing, largely sidestepping whether there was evidence that voting or vote counting in the state had been compromised. Instead, he repeated baseless claims of "widespread nationwide voter fraud."
Mr. Giuliani, who has been claiming for two weeks that the election was compromised by massive fraud, acknowledged in court that the federal suit in Pennsylvania . . . did not involve fraud. "This is not a fraud case," he said. . . .
There was "plan" to "execute these various acts of voter fraud", coordinated "from a centralized place" by "globalist dictators" who "injected votes". (And the numerous state judges, who have ruled against Trump in 31 of 32 lawsuits, are in on it.)
The cases that have been thrown out of court have not been thrown out of court.
The election was rigged in advance; that's why Biden didn't have to go out and campaign (If the ballots were tampered with that far in advance (before they were mailed out), how did they know only Biden voters would receive them?)
An affidavit by an IT worker for Dominion was evidence of fraud, even though it had been dismissed six days ago by a Pennsylvania judge because the "allegations are simply not credible".
If you toss out all the votes from areas in Michigan that strongly voted for Biden, Trump wins. (And if I'm the only runner in the 100 meters at the Olympics, I'll win a gold medal.)
Trump wants to "overturn the election" by stealing these seven states: New Mexico, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona.
Giuliani told a judge two days ago: "This is not a fraud case." At the press conference (where laws against perjury do not exist), he claims there has been "massive fraud".
Not one shred of evidence was presented to show any type of wrongdoing.
He said the media are the ones that should be doing the work of finding vote fraud, but they aren't doing it, because of their "irrational, pathological hatred" of Trump. (There are many reasons for this, including that they are not being paid $20,000 per day.)
Giuliani's "evidence" of fraud remains pathetically weak pic.twitter.com/aj4VZSsCry
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani, shorter: Black votes in big cities were fraudulent pic.twitter.com/Ht1zAviEbN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
.@RudyGiuliani is claiming now there was not a "singular voter fraud" in key states but a "plan" that was mounted "from a centralized place" to "execute these various acts of voter fraud." And the judges are in on it. So it's a deep, dark, national conspiracy. But...no evidence. pic.twitter.com/N5dFRLG2eA
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 19, 2020
Giuliani: "The recount in Georgia will tell us nothing because these fraudulent ballots will just be counted again." (There is no evidence of fraudulent ballots.) pic.twitter.com/B0BXk4eZ31
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani's reenacts a scene from "My Cousin Vinny" and then casually accuses Biden of crimes. Unhinged. pic.twitter.com/3RKJeX8cWs
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
.@RudyGiuliani complains that no one asks Biden about "the evidence of all the crimes he has committed." That shows you his standard for allegations. BTW, he has recently said the Biden family knocks off its business associates & that Biden launders Russian money. pic.twitter.com/y8OPRVT8Is
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 19, 2020
Giuliani takes a big dump on Philadelphia ("it's a corrupt city") and makes sure to mention that people get beat up at Eagles games pic.twitter.com/NXWmmoHLoG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
going great, folks pic.twitter.com/V8fChnL6Mh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Rudy now citing affidavit by Melissa Carone, a contract IT worker for Dominion. A Pennsylvania judge on Nov. 13 concluded that Carone’s “allegations are simply not credible."
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 19, 2020
.@RudyGiuliani says there is not more evidence of the great voter fraud scheme he alleges because the media—due to its "irrational, pathological hatred" of Trump—is not looking for this evidence. pic.twitter.com/4EQLePnEiQ
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 19, 2020
"It changes the result of the election in Michigan if you take out Wayne County" pic.twitter.com/Tn2SgA838M
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani has figured out that if you just take out all the votes from blue areas that went for Biden, Trump wins. Groundbreaking work. pic.twitter.com/NsAw9g4Sgv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani says that Trump's lawyers are trying to "overturn the election" in New Mexico, Virginia, Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Arizona pic.twitter.com/pssHZch39B
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
.@RudyGiuliani told a judge, "This is not a fraud case." But now--when he's not facing any penalty for lying--he says this is a case of "massive fraud." Yet after blathering for over 30 minutes, he has not named one perp or offered any evidence not already debunked or rejected. https://t.co/zPGYMJgBqF
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 19, 2020
"That's the reason why [Biden] probably didn't have to go out and campaign" -- Giuliani's final argument (he has no evidence for this) is that the Democratic Party and Biden conspired to commit massive election fraud pic.twitter.com/5MJr2mZPRi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Noooooooo pic.twitter.com/RZEpY3jeGQ
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 19, 2020
It's even worse on video. pic.twitter.com/OY3dGL1BtX
— The Recount (@therecount) November 19, 2020
Hannity says he heard Rudy Giuliani was “absolutely brilliant in his arguments today” pic.twitter.com/BSKMnMipsN
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 18, 2020
Super-Duper Election-Stealing Computer Code? Why Not In 2016?
Sidney Powell, who is also Michael Flynn's lawyer, is now claiming that Hugo Chavez himself (who died in 2013) oversaw the creation of the software that stole the election from Donald Trump.
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) November 19, 2020
Hugo was a COBOL programmer. Invented the Internets. Al Gore never gave him credit for it. This is Chavez’s revenge on the running lapdogs of capitalism.
— Vote-Health.org (@VoteHealth) November 19, 2020
Sidney Powell, who is ostensibly a lawyer, is out here providing a Hannity-style rant about how they're going to "take the country back" because "President Trump won by a landslide." pic.twitter.com/tPaqM2loOK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
"We will not be intimidated...We are going to clean this mess up now. President Trump won by a landslide. We are going to prove it. And we are going to reclaim the United States of America for the people who vote for freedom."—Sidney Powell pic.twitter.com/8KCEOGuL7w
— GOP (@GOP) November 19, 2020
"In the middle of the night, after they've supposedly stop counting, and that's when the Dominion operators went in and injected votes" -- the conspiracy theories about "globalists dictators" being pushed by Sidney Powell would make Alex Jones blush. They are absolutely insane. pic.twitter.com/3WAaE3POWT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn's lawyer now working for Trump, says the election was rigged by "communist money" and a scheme devised by the late Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuala. pic.twitter.com/8XTnRHCzAM
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 19, 2020
Jenna Ellis takes the mic and starts preemptively castigating the media for calling this press event too long and devoid of evidence pic.twitter.com/yUHrnpBnYI
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
"This is an elite, strikeforce team" 😆😭 pic.twitter.com/4YF2fARxgi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
The Trump campaign's top legal advisor, attorney, and spokesperson Jenna Ellis previously repeatedly called Trump an "idiot," and said his supporters didn't care about "facts," "logic" or that Trump was an "unethical, corrupt, lying, criminal, dirtbag." https://t.co/ihAvbKgBeq
— andrew kaczynski🤔 (@KFILE) November 18, 2020
Giuliani is still melting pic.twitter.com/y0t4m9Rd4U
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani is explicitly saying that Trump's goal is to "overturn the election" pic.twitter.com/U2osm6qiC5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
We've reached the antisemitic dogwhistle portion of this press conference pic.twitter.com/0xjHQjvhq4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Giuliani says "there is nobody here that engages in fantasy," then details his fantasy about how Trump won Pennsylvania by 300,000 votes and Michigan by 50,000 votes when he in fact decisively lost both of those states pic.twitter.com/7CvU4OuQRX
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Asked by OAN about "where is the FBI," Giuliani pretends to look around the room for microphones, then bashes the FBI pic.twitter.com/UEtS52JuHN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
"Your question is fundamentally flawed, when you're asking, 'where's the evidence?' You clearly don't understand the legal process" -- Jenna Ellis pic.twitter.com/I4n9G59Zwa
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Jenna Ellis tells the press that by asking, "Where is the evidence?" they don't understand the law. Apparently, according to the law, judges should immediately issue injunctions overthrowing the election and then wait for evidence.
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) November 19, 2020
"You're a totally discourteous person" -- Giuliani gets mad at a reporter who asks why so many lawsuits brought by the Trump campaign have been dropped pic.twitter.com/YSlMYxy7sY
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Rudy is now claiming their cases haven’t been dismissed pic.twitter.com/rpP8YEoZCJ
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) November 19, 2020
"We're headed to a very bad place," Giuliani says. And with that the news conference is finally over. pic.twitter.com/NiS4JCnYTO
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
Trump lawyer cheerleads coup attempt https://t.co/UseKfrUDae
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
"Trump’s strategy for retaining power despite losing the US election is focused increasingly on persuading Republican legislators to intervene on his behalf in battleground states Democrat Joe Biden won" https://t.co/yE29inne8r
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 19, 2020
I've seen enough. This is a genuine coup attempt now. We should absolutely use that language and it should appear in coup datasets, etc. We're much closer to a full democratic breakdown than a lot of people realize. /1 https://t.co/L1TTF1rx6q
— Michael K. Miller (@mkmdem) November 19, 2020
I've seen arguments, such as from @esdebruin, that "coup" is the wrong language because the military isn't involved and this is about an executive keeping power rather than taking it. But plenty of coups are not instigated first by the military. /2 https://t.co/f2vsB9REk5
— Michael K. Miller (@mkmdem) November 19, 2020
Further, this *is* about taking power, namely from @JoeBiden starting on Jan 20. We've already seen democratic erosion happen for four years. This is something fundamentally different: an attempt to violate electoral law & illegitimately install a president. That's a coup. /end
— Michael K. Miller (@mkmdem) November 19, 2020
National security is being eroded from within every day this Republican administration is in power, actively setting "too many fires for Biden to put out", and likely much, much worse. When do people call this treason? Sedition?
— jeddwood (@jeddwood) November 19, 2020
This from @JennaEllisEsq is funny AF pic.twitter.com/NMMO3kLQoV
— PerSisterBK🐝💛 (@BklynDin) November 19, 2020
WATCH: @FoxNews White House reporter calls @RudyGiuliani's press conference "light on facts" and "So much of what he said was not true" pic.twitter.com/uackOenTCi
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) November 19, 2020
After seeing a sweaty Rudy with hair dye streaking down his face, even Fox had to admit the farcical press conference was a complete sham https://t.co/tua7LZwIkI
— Peter Wade (@brooklynmutt) November 19, 2020
No time to dye: Rudy Giuliani channels My Cousin Vinny amid hair malfunction https://t.co/Kbn18KAxk3
— The Guardian (@guardian) November 19, 2020
They're now lobbying for a normal Mardi Gras during the pandemic pic.twitter.com/YnuuRGTIx9
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) November 19, 2020
My latest for the @nytimes on "reaching out" to Trump voters. I tried. Don't waste your time.
— Wajahat "Wears a Mask Because of a Pandemic" Ali (@WajahatAli) November 19, 2020
Now, I will look forward to all the lovely, totally not racist emails in my inbox that will prove my article. https://t.co/x5EiPVg7vE
This is a double death cult. https://t.co/eMxHDx5j1Y
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) November 18, 2020
Here’s what they’re praising...great job they’ve done killing Americans#TrumpIsANationalDisgrace pic.twitter.com/XQofxmGbin
— Mario (@Mario76937200) November 19, 2020
More PROPLE voted for the PROPSEN who ran against you, so that means you PROPLEY lost.#TrumpIsANationalDisgrace pic.twitter.com/TfmXrFTp8U
— Bradley (@BradMadDogg) November 19, 2020
OMFG
ReplyDeleteFirst it was The Instant Classic - Four Seasons Landscaping
ReplyDeleteNow the Sequel - DyeHard !!!
What on Earth does Part 3 promise ? The Mind Boggles