<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655219390848,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655219390848,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000017d-00b6-db7d-abfd-7cb766d10000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55214730", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1032401"} }); ","_id":"00000181-62c3-d1f1-a1c3-7ac385250000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedRudy Giuliani suggested he was drinking Diet Pepsi, not alcohol, on election night in 2020 when he advised then-President Donald Trump to declare victory.
The outspoken Trump ally denied claims he was drunk that night and tore into ex-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and Jason Miller, a senior campaign adviser, for their testimonies before the House select committee investigating that Capitol riot about how Giuliani prodded Trump to issue a premature declaration of victory.
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“I am disgusted and outraged at the out right lie by Jason Miller and Bill Steppien. I was upset that they were not prepared for the massive cheating (as well as other lawyers around the President) I REFUSED all alcohol that evening. My favorite drink..Diet Pepsi,” Giuliani proclaimed in a tweet.
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Miller’s claim about Giuliani being inebriated has been disseminated by members of the Jan. 6 panel, seeking to diminish the legitimacy of Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results.
“I think the mayor was definitely intoxicated, but I do not know his level of intoxication when he spoke with the president, for example,” Miller recalled during a clip of his deposition played during the hearing on Monday. “There were suggestions by, I believe it was Mayor Giuliani, to go and declare victory and say that we won it outright.”
The former mayor of New York City questioned whether Miller’s and Stepien’s testimonies were improperly influenced or the result of petty retribution because he berated them at some point, though it is not immediately clear when.
“Is the false testimony from Miller and Stepien because I yelled at them? Are they being paid to lie?” he continued.
Both Miller and Stepien testified that they opposed calls for Trump to declare victory early on because even though Trump was ahead of then-candidate Joe Biden, there were thousands of mail-in ballots left to be tallied. They also both previously worked on Giuliani’s 2008 presidential campaign, according to reporters Maggie Haberman and James Pindell.
“It was far too early to be making any calls like that. Ballots were still being counted. Ballots were still going to be counted for days. It was far too early to be making a proclamation like that,” Stepien explained.
https://twitter.com/ValerioCNN/status/1536367762360061952?s=20&t=Dq1Fm57AEndwHdv-eMND0g
Giuliani embraced heavily disputed claims that voter fraud deprived Trump of an election victory in 2020 and helped spearhead efforts to challenge the election in court — a legal venture that failed repeatedly.
On election night, he seemingly peddled theories about fraud, according to testimony from Stepien and Miller. Stepien described Trump’s campaign as being divided into two groups on election night: “Team Normal” and “Team Giuliani.”
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Trump ultimately opted to declare victory the morning following the election, something some outlets reported he planned to do days before the election took place.
“We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop,” he said at the time. “We don’t want them to find any ballots at 4 o’clock in the morning and add them to the list.”
