Rudy Giuliani, former mayor and US attorney, called Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis a “ho” before making fun of her name at a far-right conference.
Over the weekend, Giuliani referred to the Georgia prosecutor as “Fani the ho” at the ReAwaken America Tour, videos posted online show.
The former mayor of New York City then complained that the spelling of her name does not align with its pronunciation.
“I’m not calling her Fani,” he told the crowd. “I could drop the ‘ho’ part if she’d just quit and go away.” The audience roared with laughter.
That’s exactly what defendants in Willis’ case have been trying to do.
Last August, Willis indicted Giuliani, along with more than a dozen others, including former president Donald Trump, in a sprawling RICO case in Georgia relating to alleged election interference in the state in 2020.
Both Giuliani and Trump have pleaded not guilty.
Willis has faced repeated attacks from Trump and his co-defendants since her probe began.
In March, the court dedicated weeks to hearing arguments from Trump and his allies over whether Willis should be disqualified from the case, after they alleged impropriety by Willis related to her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a prosecutor on the case.
Throughout the hearings, the pair acknowledged having a previous relationship, but denied that Willis financially benefited from hiring Wade, and emphasized that the pair had started dating after he was hired. The judge ultimately ruled that Willis could remain on the case as long as Wade stepped down. Hours later, Wade submitted his letter of resignation.
Trump and his co-defendants appealed the ruling. Last week, a Georgia court scheduled a hearing on the appeal for October 4, just one month before the presidential election.
The case will likely be put on hold until this matter is resolved, so the election interference case is unlikely to go to trial before the contentious election.
Aside from Willis’ Georgia case, the former New York City mayor has been dealing with the ramifications in the state. In December, a court found that he defamed two Georgia election workers, leaving him having to pay them nearly $150m, propelling him into bankruptcy.
In recent weeks, he started a new post-bankruptcy business venture: Rudy Coffee.
His self-branded coffee line has come under the scrutiny of his bankruptcy creditors, as Giuliani will be entitled to 80 percent of the net profit of each sale of Rudy Coffee, a contract shows.
But even this new venture can’t escape the claws of bankruptcy. His partner in the venture, Burke Brands, a Florida-based maker and distributor of Don Pablo coffee, also filed for bankruptcy almost exactly one year before Giuliani himself did the same, new reports show.
Separately, the embattled former Trump lawyer was also recently indicted in an election interference case in Arizona. The 80-year-old pleaded not guilty.
