Rudy Giuliani’s Alleged Excessive Drinking Habits a Key to Federal Investigators Eroding Donald Trump’s Defense in Conspiracy to Defraud the United States Case
(Photo: Brynn Anderson/Associated Press)
Rudy Giuliani’s drinking habits have become a significant topic of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s line of questioning as his office investigates Donald Trump’s alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rolling Stone recently reported that federal investigators are attempting to determine if Trump knowingly relied on an inebriated attorney in the aftermath of losing the 2020 presidential election.
Who Is Special Counsel Jack Smith?
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed Jack Smith as Special Counsel on Nov. 18, 2022. Formerly, Smith was a career Justice Department prosecutor and former chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague. He was brought on to handle two ongoing criminal investigations involving Trump.
At the time of appointment, Special Counsel Jack Smith stated, “I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice. The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”
Since his appointment, Smith’s investigation has led to the indictment of Trump for mishandling classified documents that he was not authorized to possess or retain. More recently, on Aug. 1, as part of Smith’s investigation, a Grand Jury charged Trump for unlawfully interfering with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election and his involvement in the Jan 6 riot. The indictment accuses Trump of three criminal conspiracies.
Rudy Giuliani’s Reputation
Smith’s team is attempting to determine if Trump knowingly relied on Giuliani as his lawyer despite his reputation for excessive drinking. Federal investigators questioned multiple witnesses about how seemingly intoxicated Giuliani was while giving Trump advice about how to stay in power despite losing the election to Biden, according to Rolling Stone sources.
During the House Select Committee’s probe into the Jan 6. attack, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told congressional investigators that on Election Night, “I think the mayor was definitely intoxicated, but I do not know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president.”
In a now-deleted tweet, Giuliani denied claims that he was drunk.
The tweet read, “I am disgusted and outraged at the outright lie by Jason Miller and Bill Steppien. I was upset that they were not prepared for the massive cheating (as well as other lawyers around the President). I REFUSED all alcohol that evening. My favorite drink…Diet Pepsi.”
Giuliani was immediately blasted by commenters with many mocking him.
One Twitter/X comment read, “I mean he refused all alcohol ‘that evening,’ not denying that he was maybe still drunk from breakfast.” Another read, “Diet Pepsi and Captain Morgan? Your claim of ‘refused all alcohol that evening’ is not a defense for earlier consumption.”
Part of this line of questioning is also meant to determine if Trump knowingly took Giuliani’s drunken counsel. Witnesses have been asked if Trump ever gossiped about Giuliani’s drinking. Also, if Trump mentioned Giuliani’s drinking habits interfering with his decision-making or judgment; as well as if Trump was warned that Giuliani may be giving him advice while drunk.
Another part of the team’s questioning is attempting to determine if and when Giuliani may have been intoxicated. Especially, if he was inebriated while advising Trump during the night of the election and throughout the repeated denial of the election results. Specifically, the investigators want details about how witnesses knew the former New York mayor was drinking and how drunk witnesses thought he may have been over the course of the Trump-Biden presidential transition.
Why This Matters
Giuliani is arguably an easy scapegoat and one of Trump’s legal team’s defenses is that he relied on “advice of counsel.” If Smith’s team can pinpoint Giuliani’s alcohol consumption it could help demonstrate that Trump knowingly took the counsel of someone under the influence and potentially not providing the best advice.
“In order to rely upon an advice of counsel defense, the defendant has to, number one, have made full disclosure of all material facts to the attorney,” former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Mitchell Epner told Rolling Stone. “That requires that the attorney understands what’s being told to them. If you know that your attorney is drunk, that does not count as making full disclosure of all material facts.”
Epner continued, “Now if, for example, Trump was getting two sets of advice from an attorney: one before 4 p.m. and when the attorney hadn’t been drinking and a second, much more aggressive set of advice after 4 p.m., when he had been drinking and this was a pattern, it would not be reasonable to rely on the drunk advice.”
Trump famously doesn’t drink alcohol and once joked that he has never had a glass of alcohol. It seems likely that Trump as a teetotaler and someone who grew up in the shadow of alcoholism, even losing his brother to alcohol dependency, would notice and possibly be negative towards Giuliani’s alleged excessive drinking habits.
Whether Smith’s team can prove in a court of law that Giuliani’s degree of intoxication affected his work is one thing. However, the key factor in this line of questioning for the prosecution is demonstrating that Trump knowingly took direction from an inebriated person and purposefully took action based on that advisement. This argument may not be the smoking gun but it is still one of many that could affect this case’s outcome.
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