Rudy Giuliani would like you to know that he was sober as a judge when he urged then-President Trump to prematurely declare victory on election night and how dare you suggest otherwise.
A day after the Jan. 6 Select Committee’s second public hearing, Giuliani took to Twitter to insist that his election night effort to sow doubt in Trump’s head about the results was, in fact, a sober endeavor.
The Jan. 6 select committee painted quite a different picture on Monday. During its second hearing, the panel aired taped testimony from former Trump campaign officials Jason Miller and Bill Stephen, both of whom claimed that Giuliani was inebriated when he encouraged Trump to declare victory shortly after Fox News projected Joe Biden’s win in Arizona on election night.
It’s well-established that Giuliani enjoys his fair share of adult beverages. But on election night? Giuliani claimed in a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday that he was simply sippin’ on diet Pepsi as he set the stage for a coup.
The Jan. 6 Select Committee’s second public hearing on Monday focused on establishing a clear line between what’s become “Team Normal” and “Team Crazy.” The “Team Normal” camp, which included Stepien and Miller, were in touch with the reality that Trump had lost the election. On the other side, some of Trump’s allies like Giuliani wanted to pull out all the stops to keep Trump in office, including convincing the former president to prematurely declare victory.
Trump ultimately sided with Giuliani and hence we are where we are today. The panel on Monday detailed how any power those in “Team Normal” once had gradually faded away as those who accepted the results were pushed out in the aftermath of Election Day, making room for people like Giuliani and Sidney Powell to take charge of Trump’s crusade to overturn the election results.
“I didn’t think what was happening was necessarily honest or professional at that point in time,” Stepien said in taped testimony. “That led to me stepping away.”
