Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani (born May 28, 1944, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is an American lawyer and politician who served as mayor of New York City (1994–2001). He was especially known for his handling of the September 11, 2001, attacks and his involvement in Pres. Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Giuliani was educated at Manhattan College (A.B., 1965) and New York University (J.D., 1968). Beginning in 1970, he worked for the U.S. government, holding positions in the office of the U.S. attorney and in the Department of Justice. From 1977 to 1981 he practiced law privately, but in 1981 he returned to the Justice Department as associate attorney general. In 1983 he was appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Mayor of New York

Early in his political career, Giuliani became affiliated with the Republican Party. After being narrowly defeated in 1989, he won election as mayor in 1993, the first Republican to hold the position in two decades. He promised to reform the city’s finances and to crack down on crime, and he was credited with success in both areas. He cut expenditures by, among other things, trimming the city’s workforce and winning concessions from unions. The mayor encouraged the police to take an aggressive stance against even minor infractions of the law—even litterers, jaywalkers, and reckless cabdrivers were ticketed as lawbreakers. This campaign earned him the sobriquet “the Nanny of New York.” However, the crime rate fell, and the mayor claimed that New York had become a more civilized place.

Giuliani had his detractors, however. Critics pointed out that he was taking credit for a crime decrease that was part of a nationwide trend. Further, in several incidents involving charges of police brutality, the mayor seemed to be defending officers’ misconduct. To some critics the mayor’s actions could be petty, as when he refused to meet visiting dignitaries if he disagreed with their policies. In a highly publicized incident in 1999, the mayor denounced a controversial exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art that included works that many observers found offensive or sacrilegious. He attempted to withdraw funding for the museum but was overruled in court. Nonetheless, the mayor generally maintained high approval ratings, and there was speculation that he would run for the U.S. Senate in 2000. However, following the disclosures that he had prostate cancer and that he was separating from his wife, Donna Hanover, Giuliani announced in May 2000 that he would not run.

On September 11, 2001, New York City became the scene of the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States after hijackers flew commercial airplanes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, killing some 2,800 people. Giuliani drew high praise for his handling of the situation, and there were calls that he run for a third term, even though New York City law barred a mayor from serving more than two consecutive terms. Giuliani, however, decided not to seek reelection. He received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts in the wake of the attacks.

2008 presidential election, Donald Trump, and legal issues

Leadership, which Giuliani wrote with Ken Kurson, was published in 2002. In 2007 Giuliani announced that he would seek the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 2008. His platform focused on national security, and he was an early front-runner. By concentrating his campaign efforts on the Florida primary, however, he conceded nearly a month of caucuses and primaries to other candidates. He withdrew from the race in late January 2008 after finishing a distant third in Florida.

Giuliani was an early and ardent supporter of fellow New Yorker Donald Trump’s pursuit of the presidency in 2016. When Trump was elected, Giuliani became a prominent candidate for the position of secretary of state, though Rex W. Tillerson was ultimately chosen to fill the post. Giuliani, however, was tapped by Trump to serve as an unofficial adviser on cybersecurity. In April 2018 Giuliani joined the legal team that was representing the president in the special counsel’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. He made frequent television appearances in defense of the president, though some of his comments were thought to be unhelpful to Trump. After the investigation ended in March 2019—with no charges filed against the president—Giuliani continued to serve as one of Trump’s personal lawyers. He was especially involved in what was described as a back channel between Trump and Ukrainian officials. Giuliani was allegedly engaged in efforts to pressure Ukraine into launching a corruption investigation into one of Trump’s political rivals, Joe Biden. The actions of Trump, Giuliani, and others came under intense scrutiny in September 2019, when it was publicly revealed that a whistle-blower had filed a complaint concerning the president’s conduct regarding Ukraine. Later that month the House launched an impeachment inquiry against Trump, and legal questions arose over Giuliani’s actions. During the House proceedings, Giuliani was portrayed as a central figure in the scandal, and in December Trump was impeached. However, he was acquitted by the Senate the following February.

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After Trump was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Trump picked Giuliani to head the legal efforts to challenge the results. Giuliani subsequently made a number of public appearances in which he claimed widespread voter fraud, though court filings failed to include evidence to support his allegations. He focused particular attention on Georgia, making numerous false claims to state lawmakers. In December 2020 it was announced that he had tested positive for COVID-19. On January 6, 2021, the day on which Congress was scheduled to certify Biden’s victory, Giuliani was a speaker at a pro-Trump rally, and he urged the crowd to “have trial by combat.” A number of the president’s supporters then staged a violent attack on the Capitol, temporarily delaying the certification process. Giuliani later defended his words, claiming they were “hyperbolic.”

Giuliani’s efforts to overturn the election results led to several lawsuits. Notably, in late January he was sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems, the manufacturer of voting machines that he claimed were rigged in Biden’s favour. In addition, a New York appellate court suspended his law license in June 2021, ruling that he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements to courts, lawmakers and the public at large.” The following month his license was also suspended in the District of Columbia. In August 2022 it was revealed that Giuliani was the target of a Georgia criminal investigation into efforts to influence the state’s 2020 election results. As part of that inquiry, he testified before a special grand jury later that month. On August 1, 2023, Trump was indicted for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and among his unnamed coconspirators was “an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant’s 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not.” It was widely understood that this statement referred to Giuliani.