President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani started Election Day doing a TV interview with a Russian propaganda network, accusing Democratic nominee Joe Biden of being corrupt and mentally unfit for office.
Giuliani’s appearance comes days after White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas apologized for giving an interview to RT, a media outlet backed by the Russian government.
Atlas, who discussed the cost of economic lockdowns over the pandemic, tweeted over the weekend that he was “unaware” of the network’s status as a foreign agent and said he regretted the interview.
“I regret doing the interview and apologize for allowing myself to be taken advantage of,” Atlas said. “I especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us.”
In 2017, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report claiming RT, which is funded by the Kremlin, “aggressively uses the internet and social media to conduct ‘strategic messaging for the Russian government,'” according to the New York Times. The report claimed the network’s programming ahead of the 2016 election was “aimed at undermining viewers’ trust of US democratic procedures” and spreading disinformation.
Following that report, the Justice Department announced in November 2017 that the outlet was registered as a foreign agent. “Americans have a right to know who is acting in the United States to influence the U.S. government or public on behalf of foreign principals,” then-acting Assistant Attorney General Dana Boente said at the time.
During his interview, Giuliani made a number of accusations directed at Biden and top Democrats in Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Of his claims, the former New York City mayor alleged the Democratic Party would be eager to oust Biden from the White House if he does win the election and made an unsubstantiated claim that the former vice president suffers from dementia. He also criticized Silicon Valley over its handling of a major New York Post story that delved into Hunter Biden’s business dealings and personal problems, drawing upon a laptop left at a Delaware repair shop that purportedly belonged to him.
Giuliani has been at the center of media coverage related to Hunter Biden, pushing allegations that he and his father, who was serving as vice president at the time the younger Biden was serving on the board of a Ukrainian energy firm, engaged in wrongdoing and corruption.
Giuliani first provided the New York Post a trove of emails that had allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden, saying “either nobody else would take it, or if they took it, they would spend all the time they could to try to contradict it before they put it out.”
