Trump's refusal to pay Rudy Giuliani worse than we thought: report

19 August 2023

Former New York mayor and ex-President Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who is currently "having financial difficulties" according to his lawyer, has repeatedly requested compensation from the former president and been unsuccessful, The New York Times reports.

Giuliani, who was "once worth tens of millions of dollars" according to The Times, was one of the 19, along with Trump, indicted by a Fulton County Superior Court grand jury August 1 on charges related to their efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

CNN reports the former mayor's lawyers "said in a filing this month in a civil defamation case brought by two Georgia election workers against" Guiliani that "needs more time to pay the attorneys' fees and would like the opportunity to seek an extension from the Court."

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The news outlet also notes, on top of facing "hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and sanctions," Giulani's "financial situation is likely to become even more difficult to navigate in the coming days," as "he faces potentially perilous court decisions against him" in those two cases.

Per The Times, the former GOP lawmaker's lawyer — and even his son, Andrew — have "made personal appeals" to Trump "in hope of getting his father's huge legal bills covered."

The publication reports:

People close to the former mayor argue he was not working strictly on lawsuits, but also on research and efforts to keep state legislatures from certifying results Mr. Giuliani insisted were false. But Mr. Trump told aides he didn't want Mr. Giuliani's to receive 'a dime' unless he succeeded. Some of Mr. Giuliani's expenses were eventually paid, but only after Mr. Trump personally approved the money.

Furthermore, according to the report, "Mr. Trump's political action committee, which has doled out roughly $21 million on legal fees primarily for Mr. Trump but also for a number of people connected to investigations into him, has so far covered only $340,000 for Mr. Giuliani, a payment made in late May."

The publication notes that "those who remain close to Mr. Giuliani," including ex-New York police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, have expressed "bafflement, concern and frustration that the former mayor" still hasn't received the financial help he seeks.

"I know the president is surrounded by a number of people that despised Giuliani even before the election, more so after the election, for his loyalty to the president and for their relationship," Kerik said. "It's always been a point of contention for a number of people who I personally think didn’t serve the president well in the first place. Where is everybody? Where's the campaign?"

The Timesreports:

In the past, Mr. Trump has entered dangerous territory by not paying an associate's legal bills when the case is connected to him, most notably with his former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, who has become a chief antagonist and star witness against him. But people close to both Mr. Trump and Mr. Giuliani take it as an article of faith that the former mayor would never cooperate with investigators in any meaningful way against the former president. (Mr. Giuliani has said both he and his former client did nothing wrong).

The New York Times' full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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