'Intoxicated' Rudy Giuliani told Trump to claim he had won on election night
Former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani was apparently "intoxicated" on election night back in 2020, when he advised Donald Trump to incorrectly claim that he had beaten Joe Biden for the US premiership.
The claims were mooted by Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney who is serving as the vice-chair person of the congressional select committee currently investigating the Capitol riots.
Ms Cheney said: “You will also hear testimony that Donald Trump rejected the advice of his campaign experts on election night and instead followed the course recommended by an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani to just claim he won and insist that the vote counting stop, to falsely claim that everything was fraudulent.”
Donald Trump’s closest campaign advisers, top government officials and even his family all apparently tried to dismantle his false claims of 2020 election fraud ahead of January 6.
However, the defeated president became “detached from reality” and clinging to outlandish theories to stay in power.
On election night itself, Trump was “growing increasingly unhappy” and refusing to accept the results as they came in, former campaign manager Bill Stepien said in testimony.
Son-in-law Jared Kushner tried to steer Trump away from Rudy Giuliani and his far-flung theories of voter fraud that advisers believed were not true.
Trump would have none of it.
The back-and-forth intensified in the run-up to January 6.
Former Justice Department official Richard Donoghue recalled breaking down one claim after another - from a truckload of ballots in Pennsylvania to a missing suitcase of ballots in Georgia - and telling Trump “much of the info you’re getting is false.”
“He was becoming detached from reality,” said former Attorney General William Barr, who called the voting fraud claims “bogus” and “idiotic,” and resigned in the aftermath.
The witness testimony was shown as the House committee focused on the “big lie,” Trump's false claims of voter fraud that fuelled the defeated Republican president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and provoked a mob of his supporters to lay siege to the US Capitol.
The panel also provided new information about how Trump's fundraising machine collected some $250 million in the aftermath of the November election to keep fighting, mostly from small-dollar donations from Americans.
One plea for cash went out 30 minutes before the January 6 attack.
What has changed in the year since the storming of the Capitol? ITV News Correspondent Robert Moore, who along with his team was the only news crew to enter the building as the riot unfolded, returned to the scene one year on.
Once the investigation concludes, it will be for Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide whether or not his department can or should prosecute Donald Trump.
Stepien and senior adviser Jason Miller described how the festive mood at the White House on election night turned as they found out Trump had lost the state of Arizona to Joe Biden.
He then chose to ignore their advice, instead listening to Giuliani, who was described as inebriated by several witnesses.
Giuliani issued a general denial on Monday, rejecting “all falsehoods” he said were being said about him.
Nine people died in the riot and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol police.
More than 800 people have been arrested in the siege, and members of two extremist groups have been indicted on rare sedition charges over their roles leading the charge into the Capitol.
Additional evidence is to be released in hearings this week focusing on Trump’s decision to ignore the outcome of the election and the court cases that ruled against him.
Before beckoning supporters to Washington on January 6 to overturn Biden’s victory as Congress was set to certify the Electoral College results.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know