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Rudy Giuliani allegedly sent a text message begging Michigan lawmakers to overturn the 2020 election result – but got the wrong number.
The embattled former New York City mayor, who is also facing trial accused of conspiring to subvert Arizona’s 2020 presidential election results, has a long history of technological gaffes and humiliating mishaps.
The latest embarrassing example was detailed in special counsel Jack Smith’s legal briefing, filed in federal court in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, which outlines the federal election interference case against Donald Trump in the most thorough detail to date.
Giuliani is not named in the filing but is presumed to be “co-conspirator 1,” accused of launching state-by-state efforts to convince Republican lawmakers to support Trump’s mandate of overturning the 2020 election result.
According to the 165-page document, Trump turned to Giuliani when others were “telling the defendant what he did not want to hear – that he had lost” the 2020 election. Trump enlisted Giuliani as his personal attorney because he “was willing to falsely claim victory and spread knowingly false claims of election fraud,” according to the document.
But when it came to sending an important message to Michigan lawmakers in a bid to overturn the state’s election results, it appears Giuliani wasn’t so helpful.
“On December 7, CC1 attempted to send P37 a message (though failed because he typed the wrong number into his phone),” Smith’s document says.
The message Giuliani was allegedly attempting to send read: “So I need you to pass a joint resolution from the Michigan legislature that states that, *the election is in dispute,* there’s an ongoing investigation by the Legislature, and * the Electors sent by Governor Whitmer are not the official Electors of the State of Michigan and do not fall within the Safe Harbor deadline of Dec 8 under Michigan Law.”
The gaffe-prone Trump loyalist has a long line of technological fails. In 2017, one month after he was named as Trump’s cybersecurity adviser, he locked himself out of his iPhone after forgetting the passcode and entering the wrong one at least 10 times, NBC News reported at the time.
He has “butt-dialed” reporters on several occasions. In 2019, he accidentally left two voicemails on an NBC reporter’s phone where he spoke about needing money and unleashed a verbal attack on Joe Biden, the then-Democratic presidential candidate.
Beyond the tech mishaps, there’s also been a string of other gaffes.
The former mayor was mercilessly mocked when a Trump press conference to discuss “voter fraud” in November 2020 was held in the car park of Four Seasons Total Landscaping, an unassuming Philadelphia garden center, apparently booked in error.
Giuliani’s fall from grace has seen him go from a revered prosecutor and New York mayor, who led the city through the devastation of the 9/11 attacks, to a bankrupt and disbarred attorney since becoming one of Trump’s staunchest allies.
An Arizona judge has set a 2026 trial date for Giuliani – who has pleaded not guilty – and others accused in the Arizona fake elector case.
Earlier this week his own daughter, Caroline Giuliani, spoke out about how Trump “destroys everything he touches” as she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Watching my dad’s life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America,” the 35-year-old wrote inVanity Fair on Monday.
