Giuliani: What Happened to America's Mayor? (2023): Season 1, Episode 4 - The Madman - full transcript

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Ladies and gentlemen,
America's mayor,

Rudy Giuliani.

Today,
I am officially announcing

my withdrawal as a
candidate for president

of the United States.

Very difficult night
for Rudy Giuliani.

We are going to make
our country great again.

Giuliani sees one thing, opportunity.

Trump is clearly
the best choice.

He thought, this will put
me back in the spotlight.

What I did for
New York, Donald Trump



will do for America!

[cheers and applause]

Oh, my god.

I moved on her, actually.

You know, she was
down in Palm Beach.

I moved on her, and I failed.

I'll admit it.
- Whoa.

I did try and [bleep] her.

She was married.

That's huge news there.

Some breaking news right now.

David Fahrenthold
of The Washington Post

got his hands on a tape.

Hello.
How are you?



Hi.
- Hi, Mr. Trump.

How are you?
- Nice seeing you.

Terrific.
- Pleasure to meet you.

When the Access Hollywood
tape dropped, I was on air.

Donald Trump and Billy
Bush had something

of a raunchy conversation.

And when you're a star,
they let you do it.

You can do anything.

Whatever you want.

Grab 'em by the [bleep].

He's bragging about
committing sexual assault.

So I was just stunned,
absolutely stunned.

There is a political
storm that has erupted.

Already a parade
of Republicans

has either condemned
Trump's comments,

withdrawn their
support completely,

or called on him to step down.

Any truth that
he's dropping out?

No.

Kellyanne Conway,
Reince Priebus, others,

were scheduled to be
on the Sunday shows.

All of them canceled
their appearances.

And the one person who went on
to defend him in wake of that

was Rudy Giuliani.

Joining me now
is former New York City

mayor and Donald Trump
supporter, Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy Giuliani,
top advisor to Donald Trump.

Thank you.

Thanks for having me back.

That was a moment
for Rudy Giuliani

to really step up
and show that was

willing to be Donald Trump's
number one defender,

number one attack dog.

Men at times, talk like that.

I don't know how much
he was exaggerating.

I don't know how much is true.

He's a different man
now than he was then.

Men say stupid things
in locker rooms.

We should move on.

Rudy Giuliani
bet on Trump when

very few people were doing so.

He stuck with Trump after
the Access Hollywood tape.

Shameful, but like, you know,
you do this because you're

expecting a reward.

I guess there are
a few perfect people.

But in my view,
there's only been one.

And that was Jesus Christ.

♪

CNN can report that Hillary
Clinton has called

Donald Trump
to concede the race.

I'm enormously
excited for the country.

I believe Donald Trump will
be a truly great president.

[dramatic music]

This is probably
one of the greatest

victories for the people of
America since Andrew Jackson.

The election of Donald
Trump to the White House

shocks the country
from coast to coast.

[all cheering]

I'm so proud to
call him the president

of the United States.

Even people who are
pulling for Donald Trump

are amazed that he won.

Whoo!

It felt like this incredible
period of uncertainty.

Who that is that?

Is that the mayor
that showed up?

Rudy?

Morning after the 2016
presidential election,

if you're Rudy Giuliani,
and Donald Trump had just

been elected president
of United States,

you're feeling that there's
tons of opportunity ahead.

What's your role
expected to be?

I have no expectation.

All I do is give my advice.

Donald's been my
friend for 28 years.

All of my work on behalf of him
has been out of great loyalty

and friendship to him.

Whatever Rudy wants,
Rudy gets, because he was

the guy who stood by Trump.

Whatever he said,
Bill Clinton did much worse.

His top pick
is secretary of state.

So is this true?

You want to be
secretary of state?

[laughs] Whatever I
want to be, I'll discuss

with the president-elect.

Rudy has developed a network
of contacts in countries

across the world
in the wake of 9/11

and his geopolitical
rock star status where

he's treated almost like
an ex-president as he

travels around the world.

I think he thought
being secretary of state

would be a good way
to stay in the game.

You're not president.

You're not vice president.

Secretary of state is
the most prestigious job

in the cabinet.

And I think that he saw
that as-- as an alternate

to the presidential
ambitions that were

never going to be fulfilled.

John would be
a very good choice.

Is there anybody better?

Maybe me.

I don't know.

He gets a little too far
out ahead of himself on this.

And what was really
happening behind the scenes

was that there was actually
some concerns about Rudy and--

and whether he was up
for the challenge here.

Trump confidante, Rudy
Giuliani, former New York

mayor, may not actually now
be a lock for the position

of secretary of state.

There's one moment in Trump
Tower where Jason Miller,

one of the top communication
advisors for Trump,

comes out of the bullpen
of his team and says,

we need someone to go in there
and just lob questions at Rudy

to see what he says.

Everybody scatters.

The aide who does get picked
goes in behind closed doors

and is horrified
by what he hears,

a question about when
is the last time you've

traveled to the Middle East.

That question comes
with enough stammering

that they have
a follow-up meeting.

The aide asks Giuliani,
you told me

yesterday that you hadn't been
to the Middle East for a year.

Are you sure about that?

Are there any other
trips you can remember?

Giuliani's face goes blank.

Turns out,
his secretary had said

Rudy had just been in the
Middle East a month ago.

If you talk to people
who were talking to Trump

at the time, they say he was
never seriously considered

for it, which is probably more
revealing in and of itself

of the dynamic of
the relationship

between the two of them.

The relationship
between Trump and Rudy

is really a fraught one.

It's one where
Trump really values

Giuliani's defense of him.

He was the best
mayor in the history

of the city of New York.

He's a great person
who loves our country.

But shows his appreciation,
shows his love for Rudy

with backhand and criticisms.

In Donald Trump eye's,
there's

part of Giuliani's record.

Like, he ran for
the presidency,

and it totally
went up in flames.

So to Donald Trump,
he's a loser.

There was a moment after
Trump had been elected,

Steve Mnuchin his new
treasury secretary

is getting married
in Washington,

and Giuliani is very
excitedly talking.

And Trump stops him.

Says, Rudy,
you're spitting all over.

Go stand over there.

And Rudy does.

Rudy thought Trump
was going to appoint

him secretary of state.

And that didn't work.

So he keeps around the
margins in any way he can,

trying to get back to
the center of the action.

One has to really
appreciate to understand

the arc of Rudy Giuliani,
how intoxicating

fame and power are.

For a politician to lose relevance

is gutting.

What happens to political
and media figures when they

fear irrelevance and
go off the deep end

to become relevant again.

I don't think he
really got over losing

the race for president.

He misses the action.

He wants to be a player.

[dramatic music]

We've got some
major news that we're

still absorbing
as we speak right now

that broke overnight.

A bombshell report from
The New York Times,

claiming that the FBI
launched an investigation

into President Trump to see
if he was working for Russia

and against the United States.

Most of Trump's first
two years in office

are overshadowed
by allegations of colluding

with Russia to try to
tilt the 2016 election.

And those eventually land in
the lap of the special counsel

Robert Mueller.

I said, you know, this
Russia thing with Trump

and Russia is a made-up story.

President needs a fighter.

He needs somebody who
he thinks will push back

against this investigation,
against the press

obsession with
the investigation,

with the same zeal
that he would.

And that is why he calls up
his old friend Rudy Giuliani

and says, I need you
to fight for me here.

It's divorce number
three for Rudy Giuliani,

New York City's former mayor.

And at a hearing today,
it became clear that things

are taking a nasty turn.

Since 2016,
you see him without any

of the tethers that guided him
in more productive directions.

Peter Powers was
Rudy's closest confidant

since their boyhood days.

If anyone could center him,
it was Peter.

If there was anyone who could
calm him down, it was Peter.

And when Peter died
during the Trump campaign,

Rudy lost his lifeline.

And I think that's
what happens to him.

He's more alone
than early Rudy was.

Rudy Giuliani is
finally an official member

of the Trump team.

The former New York
mayor now joining

the president's legal team.

He wants to do battle the
way he knows how to do battle,

which is on Twitter and on TV.

I have no problem with that.

He is treated
differently and unfairly.

- I have no problem with that.
- He's innocent.

He wants Giuliani,
the prosecutor,

to prosecute the press, to
prosecute the prosecutors.

You've got a hysteria
going on in the media

that interprets everything
against Donald Trump.

There's no hysteria here.

And that is what takes
Giuliani all the way

through the Trump years.
- Wait.

Wait.
- His father-in-law--

Jake-- Jake, we are so--

we are so distorting
the system of justice

just to get Donald Trump.

It's going to hurt us.

He was spending a lot
of time in the West Wing.

He was somebody
who was constantly

on call for the former
president to reach out to.

And I think this kind
of brought back together

this on-again, off-again
longstanding bromance

between the two of these tough
of a certain era New York men.

He has this direct
access, without any

of the responsibility or
any of the accountability.

As a skilled professional
who figured out

how to climb his way
up in the legal world,

and then up in the political
world, that he figured OK,

now I'm in the Trump world.

What do I need to do to
succeed in this world?

And in this world, loyalty
is 100% obedience, is 100%.

And he just decided,
well, this is

the world I'm going to be in,
and I'm just going to do this.

Almost immediately,
as Giuliani

joins the team in a formal
way, he's doing a lot of press.

When you tell
me that you know,

he should testify because
he's going to tell the truth

and he shouldn't
worry, well, that's so

silly because it's
somebody's version

of the truth, not the truth.

He didn't have a
conversation about--

The truth is truth.

I don't mean to go, like, I--
- No!

It isn't truth.

Truth isn't truth.

The president of the United
States says, I didn't.

Truth isn't truth.

Mr. Mayor, do you
realize what, I mean.

There's a moment
inside the White House

where Trump aides start
criticizing what Giuliani has

said on air, and Trump
barks at them all and says,

at least Rudy's out
there defending me.

When you do find out?

I'll tell you what.

Rudy knows it's a witch hunt.

He started yesterday.

He'll get his facts straight.

He's a great guy.

In 2018, Joe Biden
is clearly gearing up

for a presidential
run and is widely

perceived as the front-runner.

Remember, in 2007,
when Joe Biden was making

his second run
for the presidency

and Rudy Giuliani
was making his first,

Joe Biden famously in
a Democratic debate

just dismissed Giuliani.

There's only three things
he mentions in a sentence,

a noun, and a verb, and 9/11.

I mean, there's nothing else.

There's nothing else.

Giuliani never has
gotten over that, ever.

Rudy Giuliani
called former vice

president Joe Biden a moron
and mentally deficient idiot.

I believe that he
always needs to define

himself through anatomy.

Right?

So, Catholic school
he was good and there

were other kids who were bad.

And then he's a
prosecutor and he's

gonna lock up the bad guys.

And then he's mayor
and he's gonna

lock up the squeegee
guys and jaywalkers,

and now it's Biden.

Rudy starts kind
of from what I

can best say, fancying himself
as like the new Roger Stone.

Opposition research is as
old as the game of politics,

but it's the
lengths he went to.

This is the former
mayor of New York,

this rah-rah
pro-America kind of guy

who was looking
for dirty tricks

to try to harm an American
political opponent

of his friend, Donald Trump.

Giuliani's been doing
business all around the world.

And one of the
places on the map

where he started developing
relationships is Ukraine.

And who was the Obama
administration point person

for dealing with Ukraine?

It was Joe Biden.

Just think about how
rich an opportunity

that is for Rudy Giuliani,
who wants to prove

himself for Donald Trump.

Giuliani had one
aim and one aim only.

And that was how to
[bleep] up Joe Biden.

You can't make this stuff up.

Joe Biden's son,
Hunter Biden,

was making money off of a company

owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.

If Giuliani could somehow find
a connection between Joe Biden

taking official action to
help his son enrich himself

in Ukraine, he thinks that's
going to be a golden moment

for Donald Trump.

Over the beginning of 2019,
I start getting texts from Rudy

about Ukraine, texts
about how Hunter

Biden was corrupt
and Ukraine, and

people need to look into this.

At this point,
Giuliani has really left

truth and facts to the side.

He has fully joined the
conspiratorial mentality

of President Trump and
his administration,

totally signed on to that.

Rudy wants to build a case.

So he goes to get evidence.

Now one of the problems is,
is he falls into this murky

world of Russia and
Ukraine and all sorts

of competing agendas.

And he demonstrates
very little discernment

as to who is a reliable
source and who isn't.

The problem is, this wasn't
some backroom deal in Queens.

This was about democracy
in Ukraine surviving.

As Rudy is ramping up
this campaign in Ukraine

to try and get these investigations,

he starts feeling like he's
running into this roadblock.

And that is the US ambassador
to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

I heard very, very
bad things about her

for a long period of time.

Not good.

Yovanovitch was recalled
by President Trump

because Rudy Giuliani accused
her of hampering efforts

to dig up dirt on Joe Biden.

Rudy Giuliani was saying that
she was the corrupt one, even

though she was
there pushing back

on corrupt figures in Ukraine.

The taking down, the smearing
and the attempt to destroy

the career of a career foreign
service official for this

obscure political
personal errand,

it was the early
warning signal,

it was the shocking moment of
clarity that should have been,

but wasn't.

The idea that Rudy is this
powerful international wheeler

dealer and that he was going to
go over to Ukraine and he was

going to pull the
strings of power,

this whole thing was shambolic,
it was crapulous, it was just,

it was going to be exactly
the [bleep] show it turned

into from the beginning.

When you make your
decisions based on your pride

or based on your
ego, you can do very

damaging things to yourself.

And so Rudy took that
to the fourth power.

The New York Times reporting
that the president's personal

lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is
pressing a foreign country,

Ukraine, to take
actions to help

Trump get re-elected in 2020.

This is Giuliani talking.

"We're not meddling
in an election,

we're meddling in
an investigation."

There's nothing
illegal about it.

What Giuliani and
Trump want to happen here

is an investigation
into Hunter Biden.

Both of them view
an investigation

as politically advantageous.

It doesn't really matter
what the outcome is, as long

as they can use that as
a as a political cudgel

against the son of Joe
Biden, who at this point,

is clearly the biggest threat
to a second term

for President Trump.

He's running around
representing himself

as sort of an arm of the State
Department, a representative

of the president.

Giuliani and the people who
are trying to help him started

building relationships with
the people they thought

would be in power.

In the meantime, Ukraine
elects a new president.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy,
an actor best known

for playing the
president of Ukraine,

was elected to
lead that country.

I think at this
time, President

Zelenskyy was a
relatively unknown

player on the world stage.

He had won this
election in Ukraine,

but he had this background
as a popular comedian.

[non-English speech]

Zelensky parlayed this role,
in which a kind of naive,

but well-intentioned
schoolteacher,

becomes the president of
Ukraine, into becoming

the president of Ukraine.

This throws a wrench into the
interests of Rudy Giuliani.

That election creates
a whole new dynamic

that Giuliani then tries
to navigate and game out.

This is in fragile
new government.

Obviously, recent
events show that

there is an external
danger to Ukraine

that they cannot ignore.

The dangle from Rudy
is, we could offer you

a public show of support to
get a meaningful investigation

of Hunter Biden.

Rudolph Giuliani
was not a diplomat.

Rudolph Giuliani was
not an ambassador.

Rudolph Giuliani was not
the secretary of state.

Rudolph Giuliani was
a hired political gun

working to advance
Donald Trump's

partisan electoral interests.

This scandal is a scandal
of major proportions.

Now, was I--
- Are you done now?

No, I'm not done now?

Because you haven't
said anything.

No.

You can't just
talk the whole time.

Mueller, that July, testifies
in a very clearly lackluster

performance to Congress.

The finding indicates that
the president was not, uh.

Trump not only felt
this sense of exoneration,

he also had this
sense of vengeance.

I think Robert Mueller did
a horrible job both today

and with respect to
the investigation.

He did nothing wrong and he
wasn't involved in collusion,

and he wasn't involved
in obstruction.

And it's in this
mindset, where

that morning, Trump picks
up the phone for a call

with President Zelensky.

The President
says, "There's a lot

of talk about Biden's son,
so if you can look into it,

it sounds horrible to me."

Trump spends the
call asking Zelensky

very specifically to help
him investigate Hunter Biden.

White House notes of that
call show that when Zelensky

asked for a shipment
of anti-tank missiles,

Trump countered with
these words, "I would like

you to do us a favor though."

What Zelensky doesn't realize
is, that inside the White

House, Trump has put a hold on
several million dollars of aid

to Ukraine in
anticipation of Zelensky

agreeing to these investigations.

Many of those who are
close to Donald Trump

think that none of this
would have happened

without Rudy Giuliani.

Ukraine was Giuliani's deal.

These were his connections,
these were his sources,

this was his rogue
foreign policy.

I don't know that I think the
average American at that time

understood why it
was so important

that we give the security
assistance to the Ukrainians.

I think now in 2022 when
Russia is invading Ukraine

and slaughtering innocent
Ukrainian civilians,

our longstanding ally, we
understand why we had a role

and an obligation to do that.

Zelenskyy held firm.

And it was a weird preview
that this young guy who they

thought was a trifle, they
thought, oh, he's a punk,

he's nobody, he's
a comedian, you

know, he just an
accidental president,

he's turned out to
be a greater leader

in a time of terrible,
terrible crisis

than either Trump or Rudy.

[non-English speech]

The curtain was
lifted today on

an anonymous whistleblower's
explosive complaint

against President
Trump, detailing

his ask for political help
from Ukraine's president.

Giuliani is mentioned in
the whistleblower complaint

more than 30 times.

Pointing to that
July phone call

between President Trump
and Ukraine's President.

That was a perfect call.

An absolutely perfect call.

You know it, they all know it.

I'm announcing the
House of Representatives

moving forward with an
official impeachment inquiry.

And everybody's attention
started turning to one man,

and that was Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy's influence led
to Trump's impeachment

over these Ukraine issues.

Again, this
moment of everybody

working to sort of
contain the Rudy influence

and keep him away
from the president

and yet, the president
keeps seeking him out.

Rudy Giuliani is not
a guy who backs down.

Rudy is a guy who doubles down.

Whenever Giuliani was on the
defensive when he was mayor,

his response was to attack.

I don't remember
him ever apologizing,

saying, I shouldn't have
said that or I overreacted.

And you see that throughout
the impeachment process.

What you just said
is totally wrong!

It's not what--

It's completely wrong!

This was a period where
all his friends were kind

of begging him to lay
low, to stop going on TV

and pressing this case,
and he couldn't do it.

I've got the documents,
I've got the proof,

and I've got the witnesses.

One person I spoke to who
met with him around that time

described driving around
in a cab with Rudy,

and Rudy on two occasions
during the same drive

rolled down his window to
high five construction workers

who were waving at him.

Even at the height of
the Ukraine investigation

when you were having all
these administration officials

testify about how horrified
they were by what Rudy had

been doing abroad,
he just seemed to be

having the time of his life.

About 10 days before
the 2020 election,

this clip gets released
of the Borat movie.

You can give me your phone
number and your address.

Put down your phone!

She's 15, she too old for you.

It's sort of another blow to
Rudy and to his credibility.

I had to take off the
electronic equipment.

And when the electronic
equipment came off

and I tucked my
shirt in, I assure

you that's all I was doing.

I realize now that
this is a setup.

And then all of a sudden,
crazy Sacha Baron Cohen

runs in with a cape on and
he's yelling and screaming

all kinds of stupid stuff.

I do recall
thinking at some point

as things went along, that
this was not the person I knew.

Many of the things that he
was doing were just baffling.

It's election night in
America and a nation in crisis

is at a crossroads.

Rudy Giuliani
was one of Donald

Trump's most trusted advisors
on election night 2020.

To get there, you had
to be somebody that

told Donald Trump what
he wanted to hear,

not telling him the truth.

The first exit
polls just coming

in tonight, President Trump at
the White House this evening.

Rudy Giuliani understood
something on election night

2020, which many of Donald
Trump's other advisors

did not, which is that
Donald Trump meant it

when he said he
wasn't going to accept

the results of the election.

Trump's second election
night goes much differently

than his first one.

This one, for starters,
is inside the White House.

It's a who's who
of Trump world,

and that guest list, of
course, includes Rudy Giuliani.

For the early portion of the
evening, some fairly prominent

reporters were
texting me saying,

wow, it looks like
he might do it again.

I can't wait to
get the results in.

And if he doesn't win?

That's not even an option.

I think he's going
to win by a lot.

That's my interpretation.

all: Four more years!
Four more years!

I was in the East Wing
when the Arizona call came.

Fox News called Arizona, and
that angered all the people

around the president.

And the mood
changed fundamentally.

Giuliani is furiously
scrambling to figure

out how to help the president.

All of the people
yelling suggestions,

Trump not knowing what
to do until one moment

when Rudy Giuliani pipes up
and says, just say you won.

Giuliani once said a
pretty remarkable thing.

He said, you could
throw a fake.

And what he means is, in
politics, you can embellish,

exaggerate, maybe
just throw something

out there that you don't have
any real basis to believe

is true.

And that's what he did.

We were getting ready
to win this election.

Frankly, we did
win this election.

[all cheering]
We did win this election.

Make no mistake
about it, Donald

Trump himself is delusional.

Rudolph Giuliani helped to
contribute to those delusions

of grandeur that
exists within Donald

Trump's head about the
election being stolen from him.

I think that he
felt like the 1989

election was stolen from
him, that the voting

system was rigged.

A few of my advisors
and other people

that actually came
to see us to urge

me to contest the election.

And they presented us with they
regarded as evidence of voter

tampering, voter fraud.

We see an early
premonition of what we're

going to see years later.

We're living
through I believe,

the worst voter fraud scandal
in the history of our country.

They steal elections
in Detroit.

Representative,
Representative,

you'll have an opportunity--

And they steal
elections in New York.

President Trump has
put his personal lawyer,

Rudy Giuliani, in charge of his
campaign's election lawsuits.

Giuliani becomes a real
central figure for Trump

as Trump is beginning
to devise any strategy

to hold on to power.

Giuliani, who's been on
the road in four states,

leading the president's
election challenge.

His team has already
filed lawsuits in Michigan,

Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

We are going to
continue the lawsuit here.

We're going to
bring a second one,

and then we're going to
bring a federal lawsuit.

I don't think he believed
that Trump won the election.

I don't think he believes that
Trump was a great president

or a lousy one.

I think this is
immaterial to him.

What's material, is
that he's standing

up there talking
about Donald Trump

before thousands of people.

Giuliani, he's on
television constantly,

he's holding bizarre
press conferences,

like the never to be forgotten
Four Seasons Landscaping

press conference.

Trump tweets
that there's going

to be a press conference by his
attorneys at the Four Seasons.

Two minutes after that,
he deleted the first tweet

and started over,
quote, "Big press

conference today in
Philadelphia at Four

Seasons Total Landscaping."

Oh, that Four
Seasons, of course.

He means Four Seasons Total
Landscaping, located just

down the block from
Fantasy Island adult books

and video store, and across
the street from the Delaware

Valley Cremation Center.

It's so embarrassing,
you couldn't even write it.

700,000 votes
that disappeared.

Giuliani is insisting that
they will continue to fight

when a reporter interrupts
him and tells him

that the election
had been called.

Who was it called by?

- All of them.
- All of them!

Oh, my goodness!

All the networks!

Wow!

All the networks!

Of course, it would end up
like this, with Rudy Giuliani

making an ass of
himself while Donald

Trump officially
loses the presidency

and is on the golf course.

This legal team, a.k.a.

the clown car of incompetence,
has now lost close to 50 cases

in a month.

Most of them,
I mean, basically

laughed out of court.

Inside courtrooms,
nearly every single attempt

from Trump, the Trump
campaign and his allies

are rebuked by judges, who want
to see some measure of proof

that simply doesn't exist.

Dismissals in Michigan,
Georgia, Nevada, Arizona,

and I'll tell you, it's rare
to see courts throw out cases

this quickly.

We're going to
stick with this,

we're going to
win this election.

We've actually won it.

And I believe Biden and his
crew tried to steal the votes.

I believe it is totally fraud.

I'm just not
believing that Biden

won in any way, shape or form.

Everybody knows
they stole it.

Recount, recount, recount!

There's this drumbeat coming
from Trump, coming from Rudy,

coming from a lot
of their supporters,

of this election is
fake, we need to stand up

for voters and for the
integrity of our elections

and we need to stop
this from happening.

Stop the steal,
stop the steal.

One of the clearest
inflection points in that post

election period for Giuliani
is that famous press

conference at the Republican
National Committee.

Good afternoon.

I mean, this is I think,
the clearest picture

Americans have gotten
of Rudy Giuliani

totally detached from reality.

This to me, is
the button to that

rise and fall that we
talk about over Giuliani's

public life.

Did you all watch
My Cousin Vinny?

You know, the movie?

It's one of my
favorite law movies,

because he comes from Brooklyn.

I don't like to mock
people or anything like that.

I actually do remember
thinking in that moment,

why is his family
letting him do this?

I prosecuted some of the
most dangerous criminals

in the world.

I know crimes.

I can smell them.

This is a man who is a
student of American history,

who could have
given you lectures

about our democracy
and the need

for a peaceful
transfer of power.

You know, we use largely
Venezuelan voting machine

in essence to count our vote.

We let this happen, we're
going to become Venezuela.

He's too smart to believe
some of the nonsense

that he's been spouting.

You know, the monkey
business with the ballots

and Venezuela being involved.

I mean, this is
just nutty stuff.

Fast forward to hair
dye running down his face.

So the only evidence
that Rudy has uncovered,

is that he's not a
natural brunette.

I could tell you the second
he saw that line of makeup

or hair gel or
whatever the hell

it was oozing off
of Rudy's head,

that Donald Trump, a man
with a more than passing

acquaintance with makeup,
immediately wrote Rudy off.

You know your legal
strategy is [bleep] up,

when even your hair
starts crying about it.

He's lost capacity for shame.

And shame as a
self-regulating function.

In Giuliani's case,
earlier in his career

I think this actually
served the public interest

fairly well.

That moment is now long
gone, and he's just

a man with lots and lots
of pie in his face to go

with the dripping hair dye.

And you know, the
general sense of like,

a corroded and
decayed human being.

The menace gets lost
in the clown show.

He's standing
there perpetrating

a big lie about
our most sacrosanct

thing, which is our democracy.

Yet, it actually is
the genesis of what

came closer to an American
coup than we've ever had.

We are the majority!

And Trump won!

Trump won!
Trump won!

The night before
January 6, rally

goers had started assembling.

And I can tell
you to this day,

Donald Trump won the election.

[cheering]

They were so loud, that Trump
could hear them in the Oval

Office that evening.

[all cheering]

Trump opened the doors on
this chilly January evening

and started calling
aides into his office.

Can you hear them
outside, he'd ask.

Can you hear how
excited they are?

[cheering]

I woke up that
morning and you know,

there was a sense of real
menace in Washington,

and there had been
for a couple days.

[all cheering]

There is a new Republican
Party on the rise.

We're coming for
you, and we're going

to have a good time doing it.

This is the greatest group
of patriots ever put together.

What does Giuliani
do on January 6?

Please welcome
America's mayor, Rudy.

Giuliani.

He takes the stage at
the Stop the Steal rally

on the ellipse.

Just south of the
White House, you

can see the White
House in the distance,

and he fires up this crowd.

This has been a year in
which they have invaded

our freedom of speech,
our freedom of religion,

our freedom to move,
our freedom to live.

I'll be darned if
they're going to take

away our free and fair vote!

And we're going to
fight to the very end

to make sure that
doesn't happen.

Over the next 10 days, we
get to see the machines that

are crooked, the ballots
that are fraudulent,

and if we're wrong,
we will be made fools of.

But if we're right, a lot
of them will go to jail.

[cheering]

So let's have trial by combat!

Rudy Giuliani arguing that
he wasn't literally advocating

for insurrection when
he spoke at a pro-Trump

rally in Washington just before
rioters stormed the Capitol.

When I heard him
say, trial by combat,

that was decisive for me.

He absolutely enabled an
attack on our democracy

and tried to
overturn an election.

And that's just a
civic sin that's

completely unforgivable.

all: Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.

When you see him being
one of the speakers leading

into January 6, look at the
footage of the police riot

when Dave Dinkins was mayor.

That's who Rudy was.

He's just not able to
finesse it like he used to.

But that's Rudy.

We're going to walk
down to the Capitol.

[all shouting]

[all shouting]

Trump and Giuliani showed,
as the whole Trump presidency

showed, that a small, smaller
than you think minority,

could wreak absolute havoc
with the American system.

[all shouting]

They're protecting her.

Not if he wants in!

all: We want Trump,
we want Trump,

we want Trump,
we want Trump,

we want Trump.

For somebody who once
championed the rule of law

and tried his cases in court,
for him to be the instrument

of--of essentially
undermining the system of law

and having people lose
faith in our democracy

is a horrible way
to end your career.

Because of the damage
that you have already

done to our system and
even greater danger

that may lie ahead.

[all shouting]

Hey, Giuliani, [bleep] you!

Yeah, [bleep] you.

He's just fallen so
far, and he keeps falling.

So the only thing
that kind of ties

it all together is that people
are still talking about him.

Whether he's going up
or he's going down,

he's in the conversation.

And maybe that's what
it's all about for him.

Now he once told a
reporter, you know,

whatever, whatever
they say about me,

I'll be dead one
day, I don't care.

And that may be true.

But he's still alive and he
still has to think about it.

My father would
say to me, when

you make a decision, the
most important thing you've

got to think about is, can
you shave the next morning

and look at yourself
in the mirror

and feel good about yourself.

I do not think that
Rudy Giuliani understands

that there has been
a tremendous erosion

of his reputation that
he has caused at all.

He looks in the mirror and
he sees the hero of 9/11.

And those of us
who are here have

to defend freedom by going
about our lives unafraid.

I saw him walking down
the street about two weeks

after they raided his house.

I looked out the side
of the car and I said,

here's Giuliani.

I didn't even roll
the window down.

It would have been beyond even
me to be able to predict he'd

end up the way he's ended up.

Here's a man now who got
there with divisiveness

and polarizing,
and by some luck,

was able to resurrect himself
to being the nation's mayor.

Got a second chance,
and then he erodes it all.

It is almost unthinkable.

At the end of the
day, Rudy Giuliani

was not brought down by
those of us that opposed him.

He was not brought
down by his critics.

Rudy Giuliani was brought
down by Rudy Giuliani.

[somber piano music]

♪

If Rudy had left public life

either after 9/11
or after 2008,

when he
dies in a few years,

they would name high
schools after him.

They would rename LaGuardia
Airport after him.

He would go down as a complex,

weird, funny, strange,

highly accomplished guy,
who at two key inflection

points in history, stood up and
offered powerful leadership.

That man's gone, unfortunately.

It's tragic.